Tres Pinos (

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 "Three Pines") 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 ...

San Benito County, California San Benito County (; ''San Benito'', Spanish for " St. Benedict"), officially the County of San Benito, is a county located in the Central Coast region of California. Situated in the California Coast Ranges, the county had a population of 64 ...

. The community lies along State Route 25, approximately 4 miles south of Hollister and 5 miles north of Paicines. Tres Pinos sits at an elevation of . The 2020 United States census reported Tres Pinos's population was 443.

Community details

Tres Pinos is in the (

831 __NOTOC__ Year 831 (Roman numerals, DCCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Abbasid Empire and Byzantine Empire * Byzantine–Arab wars (780–1180)#Period of 780–842, Byzantine–Arab W ...

) area code. The local prefix is 628-####. The Zip Code is 95075. There is no residential postal delivery and residents must use post office boxes for mail delivery. Tres Pinos Elementary School, a K-8 school, is operated by Tres Pinos Union Elementary School District. The district is overseen by an elected five-member Board of Trustees. Water and waste water treatment services are provided to the community by the Tres Pinos County Water District. The district is overseen by an elected five-member Board of Directors. Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital is located in Hollister, just under five miles (8 km) north of the town.

History

The original settlement of Tres Pinos was located south of the current town. The

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

reached what they called Tres Pinos station on March 12, 1873, running two passenger and two freight trains a day. In 1874 the original settlement of Tres Pinos was renamed to Paicines. The railroad was planned to run further south to

Coalinga Coalinga ( or ) is a city in the Pleasant Valley in Fresno County and the western San Joaquin Valley, in central California about 80 miles (128 km) southeast of Salinas. It was formerly known as ''Coaling Station A'', ''Coalingo'', and ' ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, though Los Pinos would end up as the end of a minor

branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

as the main lines were built elsewhere. In its heyday the town was not only the end of the railroad line but was also a stage coach stop. There was a Southern Pacific Hotel,

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...

grounds, grain barns, corrals, and many saloons, restaurants and even a

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

. The "Tres Pinos Tragedy" occurred in 1873 when a robbery featuring eight outlaws including

Tiburcio Vásquez Tiburcio Vásquez (April 11, 1835 – March 19, 1875) was a Californio Outlaw, ''bandido'' who was active in California from 1854 to 1874. The Vasquez Rocks, north of Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, were one of his many hideouts and are n ...

went wrong, resulting in three murders. (Note that these events took place in the town now called Paicines.)

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 3.6 square miles (9.3 km), all of it land.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that Tres Pinos had a population of 443. The population density was . The racial makeup of Tres Pinos was 292 (65.9%)

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 ...

, 6 (1.4%)

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 ...

, 3 (0.7%) Native American, 9 (2.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%)

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 ...

, 55 (12.4%) from other races, and 78 (17.6%) from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 143 persons (32.3%). The whole population lived in households. There were 160 households, out of which 44 (27.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 106 (66.3%) were married-couple households, 14 (8.8%) 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, 22 (13.8%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 18 (11.3%) had a male householder with no partner present. 20 households (12.5%) were one person, and 9 (5.6%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.77. There were 124

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 ...

(77.5% of all households). The age distribution was 91 people (20.5%) under the age of 18, 36 people (8.1%) aged 18 to 24, 84 people (19.0%) aged 25 to 44, 140 people (31.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 92 people (20.8%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 46.7years. For every 100 females, there were 98.7 males. There were 176 housing units at an average density of , of which 160 (90.9%) were occupied. Of these, 113 (70.6%) were owner-occupied, and 47 (29.4%) were occupied by renters.

Fairgrounds

Bolado Park, located in Tres Pinos, is home to the San Benito County Fair and San Benito County Saddle Horse Show & Rodeo. The Bolado Park Golf Course is operated by a concessionaire. The park and fair are operated by the 33rd District Agricultural Association. The association is overseen by a seven-member board of directors appointed by the governor.

Government

On the county level, the community is represented by Supervisorial District 4. In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

, Tres Pinos is in , and . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, Tres Pinos is in .

References

External links

Tres Pinos Water District

State Dept. of Water Resources info on Tres Piños groundwater basin.

Caltrans area map.
{{authority control Census-designated places in San Benito County, California Census-designated places in California