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Spreckels 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 ...
and
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 ...
(CDP) in the
Salinas Valley The Salinas Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Salinas'') is one of the major valleys and most productive Agriculture, agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and ...
of Monterey 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. Spreckels is located south of Salinas, at an elevation of . Its population was 692 at the 2020 census. Spreckels is one of the best-preserved
company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
s in the United States. It was built to house workers for the
Spreckels Sugar Company The Spreckels Sugar Company is an American sugar beet refiner that for many years was the largest beet sugar producer in the western United States. The company was incorporated and originally headquartered in San Francisco, with its largest operati ...
plant, which operated there from 1899 until 1982, named after its founder "Sugar King"
Claus Spreckels Claus Spreckels (July 9, 1828 – December 26, 1908) was a German-born American industrialist in California and Hawaii, during the Kingdom of Hawaii, kingdom and Republic of Hawaii, republican periods of the islands' history. He founded or was i ...
. When it opened, the Spreckels plant was the world's largest
sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...
factory, each day consuming of water—with much of it pumped from
well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
s—to process of beets. Spreckels is associated with the writer
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
, who lived and worked there for a time, and used it as a setting in his novel '' Tortilla Flat''. Spreckels was used as a location for the 1955 Steinbeck movie '' East of Eden''.


History

The Spreckels post office opened in 1898. The name honors
Claus Spreckels Claus Spreckels (July 9, 1828 – December 26, 1908) was a German-born American industrialist in California and Hawaii, during the Kingdom of Hawaii, kingdom and Republic of Hawaii, republican periods of the islands' history. He founded or was i ...
, who built a
sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw sugar or plantation white sugar. Some sugar mills are situated next to a back-end refinery, that turns raw sugar into (refined) white sugar. The term is also used to refer ...
at the site. The company began to relinquish control of the town when they started selling homes in the community to the public in about 1925.


Geography

Spreckels is located in northern Monterey County at . It is about south of Salinas, the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
, on the north side of the Salinas River, and approximately east of Old Hilltown. 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 Spreckels CDP has a total area of , all of it land.


Climate

This region experiences warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above . According to the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
, Spreckels has a
warm-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...
, ''Csb'' on climate maps.


Employers

Spreckels is home to two major agricultural employers: Tanimura & Antle and D'Arrigo Brothers.


Demographics

Spreckels first appeared as 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 the 2000 U.S. Census.


2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Spreckels had a population of 692. The population density was . The racial makeup of Spreckels was 426 (61.6%)
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 ...
, 4 (0.6%)
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 ...
, 9 (1.3%) Native American, 19 (2.7%) Asian, 6 (0.9%)
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 ...
, 75 (10.8%) from other races, and 153 (22.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 232 persons (33.5%). The whole population lived in households. There were 242 households, out of which 97 (40.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 161 (66.5%) were married-couple households, 11 (4.5%) 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, 55 (22.7%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 15 (6.2%) had a male householder with no partner present. 44 households (18.2%) were one person, and 23 (9.5%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.86. There were 190
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 ...
(78.5% of all households). The age distribution was 195 people (28.2%) under the age of 18, 32 people (4.6%) aged 18 to 24, 166 people (24.0%) aged 25 to 44, 169 people (24.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 130 people (18.8%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 39.7years. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males. There were 260 housing units at an average density of , of which 242 (93.1%) were occupied. Of these, 172 (71.1%) were owner-occupied, and 70 (28.9%) were occupied by renters.


2010

At the 2010 census, Spreckels had a population of 673. The population density was . The racial makeup of Spreckels was 483 (71.8%) White, 0 (0.0%) African American, 13 (1.9%) Native American, 26 (3.9%) Asian, 130 (19.3%) from other races, and 21 (3.1%) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 193 people (28.7%). The whole population lived in households, no one lived in noninstitutionalized group quarters and no one was institutionalized. Of the 229 households, 89 (38.9%) had children under 18 living in them, 134 (58.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 27 (11.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 12 (5.2%) had a male householder with no wife present, 7 (3.1%) were unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 2 (0.9%) were same-sex married couples or partnerships; 45 households (19.7%) were one person and 17 (7.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.94. There were 173 families (75.5% of households); the average family size was 3.38. The age distribution was as follows: 172 people (25.6%) were under 18, 44 people (6.5%) were between 18 and 24, 173 people (25.7%) were between 25 and 44, 208 people (30.9%) were between 45 and 64, and 76 people (11.3%) were 65 or older. The median age was 39.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. Among those 18 and older, there were 92.7 males for every 100 females. The 246 housing units had an average density of 2,013.8 per square mile; of the occupied units, 160 (69.9%) were owner-occupied and 69 (30.1%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.6%; the rental vacancy rate was 2.8%. In all, 467 people (69.4% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 206 people (30.6%) lived in rental housing units.


2000

At the 2000 census, the median household income was $58,009 and the median family income was $51,250. Males had a median income of $22,250 versus $24,750 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $19,752. None of the families and 1.1% of the population were living below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including none under 18 and none over 64.


References


External links


Spreckels Guide
��Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau
Spreckels Memorial DistrictSpreckels Community Services District
{{authority control Company towns in California Census-designated places in California Census-designated places in Monterey County, California Salinas Valley Unincorporated communities in Monterey County, California Populated places established in 1899 1899 establishments in California Unincorporated communities in California Sugar industry of the United States Spreckels California