Kings County is one of the smallest and youngest counties in the San Joaquin Valley. So how did it come to be? The story – today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots.
Back when Tulare County was created in 1852 it was huge. It was basically the size of the State of Connecticut. It encompassed present day Visalia, Porterville, Hanford, Lemoore, Corcoran and beyond. But as the county grew, it experienced growing pains. The railroad and the development of irrigation projects along the Kings River helped those areas grow quickly in the 1880s, faster than other parts of Tulare County. That led to calls to split the county in two.
As early as 1887, Hanford leaders began talking about the need to break away from Tulare and form their own county. And they weren’t the only ones thinking this way. In 1893, a movement for the formation of new counties took hold in Sacramento. Ultimately the backers of these efforts formed a coalition strong enough to win the votes necessary in the Assembly and Senate. Their actions created Riverside County, carved out the new Madera County from the northern portion of Fresno County, and broke Kings County off from Tulare County.
As for the name, early on Hanford leaders favored the name Lorrain County, but that quickly fell out of favor. Instead, they borrowed the name of the Kings River, giving us the Kings County that we know today.
