Walnut Grove is a
census-designated place (CDP) in
Sacramento County,
California,
United States. It is part of the
Sacramento–
Arden-Arcade–
Roseville Roseville may refer to:
Australia
*Roseville, New South Wales
Canada
* Roseville, Ontario
Malta
* RoseVille (aka Villa Roseville), a house in Attard, Malta
South Africa
*Roseville, Pretoria, a suburb
United Kingdom
*Roseville, Dudley
United S ...
Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,542 at the 2010 census, up from 669 at the 2000 census.
Geography
Walnut Grove is located at (38.243490, −121.512100).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (6.62%) is water.
Demographics
2010
The
2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
reported that Walnut Grove had a population of 1,542. The population density was . The racial makeup of Walnut Grove was 943 (61.2%)
White, 15 (1.0%)
African American, 24 (1.6%)
Native American, 110 (7.1%)
Asian, 0 (0.0%)
Pacific Islander, 402 (26.1%) from
other races, and 48 (3.1%) from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 673 persons (43.6%).
The Census reported that 1,533 people (99.4% of the population) lived in households, 9 (0.6%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.
There were 585 households, out of which 182 (31.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 293 (50.1%) were
opposite-sex married couples living together, 56 (9.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 41 (7.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 35 (6.0%)
unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
POSSLQ ( , plural POSSLQs) is an abbreviation (or acronym) for "Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters", a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of ...
, and 4 (0.7%)
same-sex married couples or partnerships. 165 households (28.2%) were made up of individuals, and 66 (11.3%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62. There were 390
families (66.7% of all households); the average family size was 3.23.
The population was spread out, with 357 people (23.2%) under the age of 18, 137 people (8.9%) aged 18 to 24, 376 people (24.4%) aged 25 to 44, 432 people (28.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 240 people (15.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 112.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.9 males.
There were 689 housing units at an average density of , of which 309 (52.8%) were owner-occupied, and 276 (47.2%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.6%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.7%. 701 people (45.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 832 people (54.0%) lived in rental housing units.
2000
As of the
census of 2000, there were 669 people, 245 households, and 159 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 282 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 49.78%
White, 1.49%
African American, 3.14%
Native American, 21.23%
Asian, 0.15%
Pacific Islander, 19.13% from
other races, and 5.08% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 46.79% of the population.
There were 245 households, out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.3% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 15.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.1% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.46.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 25.3% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.9 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $40,179, and the median income for a family was $39,667. Males had a median income of $41,563 versus $23,417 for females. The
per capita income for the CDP was $14,939. About 14.0% of families and 11.3% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 12.9% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over.
History
Established in 1850 by John W. Sharp, Walnut Grove is one of the earliest settlements along the
Sacramento River. Sharp journeyed west from Ohio with his young family and chose the site of Walnut Grove because of the abundant walnut and oak forests in the area. The town quickly prospered as an agricultural center and riverboat stop (the forests were timbered for steamboat firewood). It was also a major shipping port by 1865 for agricultural produce and fish, with the
Bartlett pear
The Williams' bon chrétien pear, commonly called the Williams pear, or the Bartlett pear in the United States and Canada, is the most commonly grown variety of pear in most countries outside Asia.
It is a cultivar (cultivated variety) of the s ...
as its primary product. By 1870, it had become a thriving town full of small businesses (many owned by the Sharp family), a school, post office, and Union Guard Armory.
After Sharp's death in 1880, the heirs sold a large portion of the estate to Agnes Brown and her son Alex. The Brown family subsequently became heavily involved in the commercial life of the community, operating a general store, hotel, and asparagus packing house, as well as the Bank of Alex Brown. Due to the demands for rich agricultural land over time, although the town has remained compact in size, it holds the distinction of being the only river town along the Sacramento River to occupy both the east and west riverbanks.
Ferry service operated for many years between parts of town on either side of the river until the first bridge was opened in 1916. The bridge, since replaced by a modern span, was the first
cantilevered counterweight
bascule
Bascule may refer to:
* Bascule bridge, a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span in providing clearance for boat traffic
* Bascule (horse), the arc a horse's body takes as it goes over a jump
* Bascule light, a sma ...
drawbridge constructed west of the
Mississippi River. It was officially opened by the Governor of California, who traveled with various dignitaries to Walnut Grove on the gubernatorial yacht.
As early as 1914, a large Japanese community lived in Walnut Grove. The ''Nichi-Bei Nenkan'' (''Japanese American Yearbook'') of 1914 includes a directory of 67 Japanese-owned businesses, including one tofu shop: Sakai Tofu-ya. There was still a tofu shop in town in 1975, according to ''The Book of Tofu''.
The community was racially segregated up to the start of
World War II. Only whites were allowed to own homes on the west side of the river. Even on the east side, the Asians separated into a Japanese section and a Chinese section. There were two elementary schools
"white" school and Walnut Grove Oriental Elementaryuntil the Japanese were forcibly moved out of the area at the start of World War II. Then, the two elementary schools
p to Grade 8were combined. After elementary school, the students were bused to
Courtland for high school, until that school became identified as an earthquake hazard.
The Chinese residents immigrated from two different areas in the Delta region in
Guangdong,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
; immigrants from
Zhongshan resided in
Locke
Locke may refer to:
People
*John Locke, English philosopher
*Locke (given name)
*Locke (surname), information about the surname and list of people
Places in the United States
*Locke, California, a town in Sacramento County
*Locke, Indiana
*Locke, ...
, while those from
Taishan populated Walnut Grove. During the
Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s, the Walnut Grove-Locke-
Isleton
Isleton is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. The population was 804 at the 2010 census, down from 828 at the 2000 census. It is located on Andrus Island amid the slough wetlands of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, ...
area was a prime target for visiting Chinese government VIPs to raise funds for the Chinese government.
The principal activities in the Walnut Grove Chinese community were operating illegal gambling houses and Chinese restaurants. These services were primarily for
migrant farm workers from the
Philippines. "Whites" were not allowed to enter for fear they might be police authorities. Routine police raids were staged during election times to demonstrate the
Sacramento County Sheriff's "fight against crime".
In the early 1930s, Walnut Grove was a thriving community until fire again consumed the Chinese section in the mid-1930s. In its glory days of the 1930s and early 1940s, a daily shuttle operated by the Ow family carried Chinese to and from San Francisco; it also accepted and executed orders for merchandise from San Francisco. The route started from Courtland with stops at Locke, Walnut Grove, and Isleton and returned nightly.
After World War II, gambling operations ceased. Members from the small Chinese community in Walnut Grove moved to the cities and many elder Filipinos returned to their homeland. The town now hosts both the and
Walnut Grove Japanese-American Historic District.
Sugar beet harvesting was active up to the late 1940s. There were two leading areas where beets were unloaded from trucks into a hopper, then conveyed up a belt to fill
Southern Pacific railroad cars for the trip north to Sacramento for processing. Asian women worked in fruit packing houses throughout the Delta area
Ryde, Isleton">Ryde,_California.html" ;"title="ocke, Walnut Grove, Ryde, California">Ryde, Isletonwhile men worked in the fields.
In 1961, documentary photographer Pirkle Jones did a photo essay on Walnut Grove.
Sites of interest
Towers
Walnut Grove's location has made it the site of a rare collection of very tall radio and television transmission towers. The first major tower here was the
KXTV/KOVR/KCRA Tower built in 1962, which dominated the skyline for over twenty years with its 1,548 foot height. In 1985 the old tower was joined by taller structures. The guyed
KXTV/KOVR Tower is, with a height of 2,048 feet, one of the tallest constructions in the world. Two other guyed towers of similar height are the 1,996 foot high
Channel 40 Tower,
KTXL, and the 2,000 foot high
Hearst-Argyle Tower. Towers sited here at the natural corner of the
California Central Valley
The Central Valley is a broad, elongated, flat valley that dominates the interior of California. It is wide and runs approximately from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific coast of the state. It covers ...
have
line of sight coverage of flat valley floor for over 60 miles(100 kilometers) to the north and to the south-southeast, and quite good coverage into the
Sierra
Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following:
Places Mountains and mountain ranges
* Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico
* Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...
foothills and mountains across the valley to the northeast and east. However, these towers and their guy-wires are a significant hazard to aircraft, which can otherwise freely cross most of the Central Valley at 656 feet of altitude.
Delta Meadows State Recreation Area
Located along the Railroad Slough Levee, and accessed from the River Road between Walnut Grove and Locke, via a small gravel road just north-east of the
Delta Cross Channel
The Delta Cross Channel is a facility in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that diverts water from the Sacramento River. The facility was built in 1951 in Walnut Grove, California.
It diverts water to Snodgrass Slough, from where it flo ...
, a water diversion facility on the
Sacramento River. Additionally, a docent program through Delta Natural History Association provides canoes with guides in the spring and fall, reserved through Brannan Island State Park.
Locke
Chan Tin-San is commonly credited as the earliest resident of
Locke, California. He was the first Chinese person to construct a building on the Locke brothers' property, where he realized the business potential of the Southern Pacific wharf and warehouse. After the October 1916 fire which destroyed the Walnut Grove Chinatown, a number of Chung-San District people moved to the area and Locke was officially established. Lee Bing, the leader of the group, financed nine of the buildings. Locke is one of the only towns in the United States built entirely by Chinese. It was built in 1915 and burned down twice. Locke was a bustling place with gambling houses, merchant stores and a movie house all owned by the Chinese. Locke today is much like it was many years ago. Most of the original buildings are still standing. The Southern Pacific wharf and warehouse was built in three stages, the first in 1906. It grew to over in length. During the harvest season a half dozen or more fruit packers would rent space in the warehouse, among them were Scobel & Day, Simons & French, Earl Fruit Company, and the California Packing Corporation. The rail spur served the warehouse and connected with the Walnut Grove Branch line. The warehouse operated two freight elevators which raised produce from the decks of the riverboats. The warehouse is now used to store and launch pleasure boats.
Notable people
*
Bo Eason – former safety for
University of California, Davis and the
Houston Oilers, actor, playwright.
*
Tony Eason – former quarterback for the
University of Illinois and the
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
.
*
John Garamendi – Representative in U.S. Congress for
California's 3rd congressional district, former lieutenant governor, former insurance commissioner.
*
Mike Honda – Former US Representative and former member of the California state assembly.
Government
In the
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...
, Walnut Grove is in , and in .
In the
United States House of Representatives, Walnut Grove is in .
In popular culture
In
''Sons of Anarchy'', season 4/episode 10, "Hands",
Jax Teller and
Tara Knowles' family outing at Walnut Grove Park with their sons is cut short, and Tara's plan to attend a surgical conference in Providence, Oregon, at a hospital she plans to transfer to, is foiled when
hit men
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
hired by
Clay Morrow abduct Tara from the park and severely wound her.
References
External links
''“Locke and Walnut Grove: Havens for Early Asian Immigrants in California”'', a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
{{authority control
Census-designated places in Sacramento County, California
Census-designated places in California
Populated places on the Sacramento River