Editing Selma, California (section)

==History and culture==
Selma owes its beginnings as the second city in Fresno County<ref>{{cite web |title=Fresno County: A snapshot of the County in the Year 1900 |url=https://www.valleyhistory.org/history-of-fresno-county |website=Fresno County Historical Society |access-date=23 November 2024}}</ref> to farming and to the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]], which began in the 1870s as a branch line of the [[Central Pacific Railroad]]. The route of the Southern Pacific through California's [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]] gave rise to a string of small towns between [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] and [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]]. Selma was among them.

In 1880, residents of the rural community that would become Selma established the Valley View School District. The first post office opened in 1880.<ref name=CGN /> A decade later, four farmers – Jacob E. Whitson, Egbert H. Tucker, George Otis and Monroe Snyder – formed a partnership and developed a [[townsite]] along the railroad. They began auctioning lots and just three years later the city of Selma was formally [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]].

A persistent local legend is that Selma was named after Selma Gruenberg Lewis ({{Circa|1867}}–1944) by Governor [[Leland Stanford]], who was shown her picture by her father. As Lewis first told the story in 1925, Stanford, also a Director of the [[Central Pacific Railroad]], was so taken that he ordered that the next town on the line be named for her. Lewis often repeated the story with further romantic embellishments, and it came to be accepted as fact despite a lack of documentary evidence. Lewis is buried in Floral Memorial Park in Selma, and her marker repeats the story. Subsequent investigation indicates instead that the town was in fact named for Selma Michelsen (1853–1910), wife of a railroad employee who had submitted her name for inclusion on a list of candidate names prepared by his supervisor. George Otis selected the name from this list, in consultation with other local businessmen.<ref>J Randall McFarland (1980) Centennial Selma, Biography of a California Community's first 100 years. Privately published in association with ''[http://selmaenterprise.com/ The Selma Enterprise]''</ref>

Along with [[Fowler, California|Fowler]] to its immediate north and [[Kingsburg, California|Kingsburg]] to its south, Selma was a railroad stop where agricultural goods could be loaded for shipping. As in the rest of the United States, the railroad played a lesser role as the 20th century progressed. What was once a handsome passenger terminal in Selma's downtown became the city's police station.

In the late 19th century, the town also boasted a water-driven mill for grinding wheat to flour. The mill was powered by the C&K Canal, a seasonal [[irrigation]] channel that was known in Selma as the Mill Ditch. Groundwater Irrigation Beginnings had its start in Selma. It was here where the San Joaquin Valley's groundwater reservoir was first tapped with a pumping plant. William De La Grange of Selma was tired of irrigationists draining Kings River water from the canal he used so he drilled an open bottom well. With the plant attracting attention, groundwater irrigation was common and pumps were powered by electricity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Groundwater Irrigation Beginnings |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=28594 |website=The Historical Marker Database |access-date=23 November 2024}}</ref>

===Agribusiness===
Wheat growing was Selma's first economic engine but was replaced by [[orchards]] and [[vineyard]]s when farmers realized how well [[peach]]es, [[plum]]s, and grapes grew in the sandy soil, irrigated with snow-melt water imported through canals from the nearby [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] mountain range.

Although [[raisin]]s soon became the major crop, Selma called itself the "Home of the Peach" and was also known as "A Peach of a City." Through the 1960s, the local peach [[Canning|cannery]], where [[Libby's]]-brand fruit was packed, was a major seasonal employer. Peaches and other tree fruit are still grown in abundance.

With 90 percent of U.S. raisins produced within {{Convert|8|mi|km|spell=in}} of Selma, the city adopted the slogan "Raisin Capital of the World" in 1963. Area vineyards also produce table grapes. A decline in family farming, the national trend in U.S. agriculture after World War II, and depressed prices for raisins and table grapes, especially in the last decades of the twentieth century, were drains on the Selma-area [[agribusiness]] economy. [[Harris Ranch]] is based in Selma.

===Shifting business center===
Like many other American cities, Selma suffered a decline in its old downtown in the late decades of the 20th century and into the 21st century. Post–[[World War II]] development spread the growing city to the north and east, away from its business center. [[U.S. Route 99|U.S. Highway 99]], once a main road running north–south through town, parallel to the railroad, was rebuilt as a freeway (now [[State Route 99|SR 99]]) in the 1960s. Several blocks to the west of the old road (now Whitson Street and Golden State Boulevard), the freeway bisects the oldest residential neighborhood in Selma. Freeway travel made the new shopping malls of [[Fresno, California|Fresno]] more accessible. The freeway also made Selma more attractive as a place to live for Fresno workers, who contributed to ever-faster residential growth into the 21st century.

The downtown experienced one of its biggest changes when [[Walmart]] built a large retail store at the intersection of East Floral Avenue and the freeway—at the northwest edge of town. As the 21st century began, this area became the ''de facto'' commercial center of the city providing great economic benefits. The old downtown, despite vacant storefronts, remained a struggling but viable district of city offices and small businesses.

===Media===
The weekly newspaper is ''The Selma Enterprise''. Residents are also served by the daily ''[[The Fresno Bee|Fresno Bee]]'' and by Fresno-based television and radio stations.

===Public schools===
The [[Selma Unified School District]] has eight neighborhood elementary schools. Students from all of these schools are channeled to Abraham Lincoln Middle School and continue on to [[Selma High School (Selma, California)|Selma High School]] or two alternative high schools. Selma High School fields a range of sports teams nicknamed the Bears. School colors are orange and black. The yearbook is entitled the ''Magnet''.