Porterville

Sister cities

• Hamamatsu

History

During California's Spanish period, the San Joaquin Valley was considered a remote region of little value. Emigrants skirted the eastern foothills in the vicinity of Porterville as early as 1826. Swamps stretched out into the Valley floor lush with tall rushes or "tulare" as the Indigenous people called them. Gold discovered in 1848 brought a tremendous migration to California, and prairie schooners rolled through Porterville between 1849 and 1852. Starting in 1854, Peter Goodhue operated a stopping place on the Stockton - Los Angeles Road on the bank of the Tule River. Wagon trains of gold seekers passed through the village, but other travelers found the land rich and remained to establish farms. A store was set up in 1856 to sell goods to miners and the Native Americans, who lived in tribal lands along the rivers. From 1858 to 1861 it was the location of the Tule River Station of Butterfield Overland Mail. Royal Porter Putnam came to the village in 1860 to raise cattle, horses and hogs. He bought out Goodhue the same year and turned the station into a popular stopping place and hotel called Porter Station. He bought 40 acres of land and built a two-story store and a hotel on the highest point of the swampy property, which is now the corner of Oak and Main. The town of Porterville was founded there in 1864. It took its name from the founder's given name because another Putnam family lived south of town. In 1862 of rain fell in the area, causing a change of course of the Tule River. Putnam's acres drained and he had his property surveyed, staking out lot lines and establishing streets. Settlers were offered a free lot for every one purchased. The need of a burgeoning California population for food provided the impetus that led to the permanent development of the…

Geography

Porterville is located at (36.068550, -119.027536). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.29%) is water. Porterville is located on the Tule River at the base of the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada and easternmost section of California's Central Valley. In the foothills above Porterville is the man-made Lake Success. Porterville, lying along the foothills of the Sierras at an elevation of , is located on State Highway 65, north of Los Angeles, and east of the Pacific Coast. The city has a strategic central location to major markets and a ready access to major transportation routes. Porterville is subject to earthquakes due to its location within the Pacific Ring of Fire. The geologic instability involves numerous faults, which cause many earthquakes every year, but most are of low intensity and are not felt. The primary plate boundary is the San Andreas Fault, which was the source of the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake. Another major event that affected the Porterville area was the Kern County sequence of shocks that occurred on the White Wolf Fault during July and August 1952. Most parts of the city are also vulnerable to floods. The San Joaquin Valley and metropolitan areas are also at risk from blind thrust earthquakes. Porterville has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) that is close to both a mediterranean climate (Csa) and a hot semi-arid climate (BSh). It is characterized by sweltering and arid summers, and pleasant winters with frosty mornings and occasional heavy rainfall. Owing to geography, agriculture, and heavy reliance on automobiles, Porterville suffers from air pollution in the form of smog. The Porterville area and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley are susceptible to…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,246
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  1,206
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,144
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  1,036
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  1,033
• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  931
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  911
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  897

Most recent

• M 3.1 — 2026-10-06
  5 km ESE of Wofford Heights, CA
• M 2.55 — 2026-10-04
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• M 2.51 — 2026-09-24
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• M 2.85 — 2026-08-21
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