Vernalis 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 ...

San Joaquin County, California San Joaquin County ( ; , meaning " St. Joachim"), officially the County of San Joaquin, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 779,233. The county seat is Stockton. San Jo ...

, United States. Vernalis is located on

California State Route 33 State Route 33 (SR 33) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California. It runs north from U.S. Route 101 in Ventura through the Transverse Ranges and the western side of the San Joaquin Valley to Interstate 5 at a ...

southeast of Tracy. The first post office in the area opened in San Joaquin City in 1851; that post office closed in 1852, reopened in 1874, and was moved southwest in 1888, after which its name was changed to Vernalis. According to local historian Earle E. Williams, Vernalis, Latin for ''springlike, related to the spring'', was named after two daughters of local ranchers, Verna Carpenter and Alice Hamilton. Vernalis has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with ZIP code 95385.ZIP Code Lookup
/ref> During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Vernalis was the site of

Naval Auxiliary Air Station Vernalis Naval Auxiliary Air Station Vernalis was a United States Navy facility located in the small town of Vernalis, California during World War II. It opened on June 8, 1943, and closed on October 15, 1945. History It served as an auxiliary station ...

, Vernalis Reconditioning Center and Vernalis Prisoner of War Branch Camp.

References

Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in San Joaquin County, California {{SanJoaquinCountyCA-geo-stub