El Portal (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "The Gateway") is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Mariposa 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 ...

, United States. It is located west-southwest of Yosemite Village, at an elevation of . The population was 372 at the 2020 census, down from 474 at the 2010 census.

History

The first post office at El Portal opened in 1907. Work on a four-story Hotel Del Portal began in the fall of 1907 and was completed in 1908 by a subsidiary corporation of the

Yosemite Valley Railroad The Yosemite Valley Railroad (YVRR) was a Shortline railroad, short-line railroad that operated in California from 1907 to 1945, providing a new mode of travel and tourism for the region. It ran from Merced, California, Merced to the Yosemite N ...

. The hotel was a four-hour ride from Merced via a railway coach. On October 27, 1917, a fire destroyed the hotel including the Desmond Company's records, which was started by a defective attic

flue A flue is a duct, pipe, or opening in a chimney for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, water heater, boiler, or generator to the outdoors. Historically the term flue meant the chimney itself. In the United States, they a ...

Community

El Portal lies along State Route 140 by the

Merced River The Merced River (), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and st ...

located on the western boundary of

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

. It is partly under the administrative jurisdiction of Yosemite National Park. Community buildings include a post office, community center, and a small school. Town businesses include two hotels, a small general store, and a gas station. El Portal was the terminus of the

at the entrance to the National Park, and in 1978 Hetch Hetchy Railroad no. 6 was brought to El Portal and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. El Portal is

for "the gateway" derived from this fact.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP covers an area of , of which , or 2.41%, are water.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that El Portal had a population of 372. The population density was . The racial makeup of El Portal was 297 (79.8%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3 (0.8%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 6 (1.6%) Native American, 9 (2.4%) Asian, 1 (0.3%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 12 (3.2%) from other races, and 44 (11.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 36 persons (9.7%). The census reported that 356 people (95.7% of the population) lived in households, 16 (4.3%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 179 households, out of which 45 (25.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 55 (30.7%) were married-couple households, 17 (9.5%) were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 53 (29.6%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 54 (30.2%) had a male householder with no partner present. 85 households (47.5%) were one person, and 19 (10.6%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 1.99. There were 76

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(42.5% of all households). The age distribution was 63 people (16.9%) under the age of 18, 9 people (2.4%) aged 18 to 24, 155 people (41.7%) aged 25 to 44, 104 people (28.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 41 people (11.0%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 36.7years. For every 100 females, there were 117.5 males. There were 231 housing units at an average density of , of which 179 (77.5%) were occupied. Of these, 51 (28.5%) were owner-occupied, and 128 (71.5%) were occupied by renters.

References

External links

* {{authority control Census-designated places in Mariposa County, California Merced River Yosemite National Park Populated places in the Sierra Nevada (United States) Census-designated places in California