Raymond (formerly, Wildcat Station) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Madera County,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. 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 The chowchilla (''Orthonyx spaldingii'') is a passerine bird in the family Orthonychidae. It is endemic to Australia. Taxonomy In their 1999 study, Schodde and Mason recognise two adjoining subspecies, ''O. s. spaldingii'' and ''O. s. melas ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ZIP Code is 93653. The community is inside

area code 559 Area codes 559 and 357 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan for the central San Joaquin Valley in central California. The numbering plan area includes the counties of Fresno, Madera, Kings, and Tulare, an area largely c ...

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, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, or for of Raymond & Whitcomb Travel Association in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Walter Raymond founded the Raymond Hotel in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 d ...

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 largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

. 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 San Joaquin Valley and Yosemite Railroad reached the town in 1886.

Quarry

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

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