Athlone 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 ...

Merced County Merced County ( ), is a county located in the northern San Joaquin Valley section of the Central Valley, in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 281,202. The county seat is Merced. The county is named after ...

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 ...

, US. It is located on 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 ...

west-southwest of Le Grand, at an elevation of 207 feet (63 m). A post office was operated in Athlone from 1881 to 1905, with a closure during part of 1901, from 1906 to 1909, and from 1914 to 1937. Athlone was named after the Irish town of the same name, in

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

Ireland. Early settlers was Lee R. and George Francher. Athlone was laid out and roads built in 1874. The US Army built the

Athlone Auxiliary Field Merced Army Air Field auxiliary fields were built to support pilot training at the Merced Army Air Field. In 1940 the US Army wanted to built near Merced, California a 30,000 per year basic pilot training base. The former city of Cuba, Merced ...

(1942-1945) to train

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

pilots in Athlone. militarymuseum.org Athlone Auxiliary Field
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References

Unincorporated communities in Merced County, California Unincorporated communities in California {{MercedCountyCA-geo-stub