Raymond (formerly, Wildcat Station) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Madera County Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera. Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is located north-northeast of Madera, at an elevation of 948 feet (289 m). Raymond has fewer than 1,000 residents. It is located approximately north of Madera at Green Mountain Road and Road 600. The community is part of the Madera– Chowchilla

Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

. The ZIP Code is 93653. The community is inside

area code 559 Area code 559 is a California telephone area code that was split from area code 209 on November 14, 1998. It covers the central San Joaquin Valley in central California, serving the counties of Fresno, Madera, Kings, and Tulare—an area large ...

History

The area was named either for Israel Ward Raymond, a park commissioner who urged the preservation of Yosemite Valley, or for T. Raymond of Raymond & Whitcomb Travel Association in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, or for Walter Raymond of Raymond & Whitcomb Travel Association in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Walter Raymond founded the Raymond Hotel in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

in 1886. He planned the hotel and received money for its construction from his father Emmons Raymond, who was a stockholder in the

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

. When the town of Raymond was dedicated, its residents approached Walter Raymond and offered to name the town after him if he would cut the ribbon at the ceremony. The first post office opened in 1886. The original name, Wildcat Station, was replaced by Raymond when the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

reached the town in 1886.

Quarry

Raymond has a quarry for sierra white granite. This stone was used to face the

Oakland California Temple The Oakland California Temple (formerly the Oakland Temple) is a Temple (LDS Church), temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) located in Oakland hills, the hills of Oakland, California. It was built in the early 1960 ...

Notable people

* Thomas Hill (1829-1908), an early California artist. He died in Raymond, California.

References

Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Madera County, California {{MaderaCountyCA-geo-stub