El Centro, California
El Centro is a city in and the county seat of Imperial County, California, United States. El Centro is the most populous city in the Imperial Valley, the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban area and principal city of the El Centro metropolitan area which encompasses all of Imperial County. El Centro is also the most populous U.S. city to lie entirely below sea level. The city, located in southeastern California, is from San Diego and less than from the Mexican city of Mexicali.
The city was founded in 1906 by W. F. Holt and C.A. Barker, who purchased the land on which El Centro was eventually built for about and invested $100,000 in improvements. The modern city is home to retail, transportation, wholesale, and agricultural industries. There are also two international border crossings nearby for commercial and noncommercial vehicles. El Centro's census population as of 2020 was 44,322, up from 42,598 at the 2010 census.
History
Spanish explorer Melchor Díaz was one of the first Europeans to visit the area around El Centro and Imperial Valley in 1540. The explorer Juan Bautista de Anza also explored the area in 1776. Years later, after the Mexican–American War, the northern half of the valley was annexed by the U.S., while the southern half remained under Mexican rule. Small scale settlement in natural aquifer areas occurred in the early 19th century, but most permanent settlement was after 1900.Originally part of San Diego County, the Imperial Valley was settled by farmers once water from the Colorado River was diverted via canals to irrigate the desert valley floor.
In 1906, the land on which El Centro was later built was purchased by W. F. Holt and C.A. Barker.
In 1907 Imperial County was split off from San Diego County; by then much of the valley was successfully irrigated.
Before the town began, the railroad had established a station and named the place Cabarker. The name honored C.A. Barker, a friend of the landowner. The first post office in El Centro opened in 1905.
The City of El Centro was incorporated on April 16, 1908. Early growth was rapid with the city's population reaching 1,610 by 1910 and more than tripling by 1920 to 5,646 people. One reason for this rapid early growth was El Centro's successful battle with the City of Imperial to become the county seat. In these early days, relationships among the cities of the Imperial Valley were often intensely competitive, reflecting the particular frontier character of the area and the fact that six cities within a twenty-mile radius were all established within one generation. These cities were in a horse race to win the prize of being the Valley's leading city and the intense competition is measured by the fact that it took twenty years to get a county fair started because of strong local loyalties on the County Board of Supervisors.
By the mid-1940s, El Centro had become the second largest city in the Imperial Valley, with a population of about 11,000 people. El Centro had also become the location of the Imperial Irrigation District administrative offices.
Agriculture has been an important industry within El Centro since the early 20th century. Due to its strategic location near rail lines and U.S. Highways 80 and 99, more than 35 growers and shippers still operate in El Centro. However, by the early 1980s the two largest employment sectors in El Centro were government and wholesale/retail trade, reflecting El Centro's emerging role as a regional administrative and commercial center.
Natural disasters
El Centro has experienced a range of natural disasters, most notably earthquakes, due to its location in the seismically active Imperial Valley near the San Andreas Fault system. The region is also vulnerable to extreme heat, droughts, and occasional flooding.One of the most significant events in recent history was the 2010 Baja California earthquake, also known as the Easter Sunday earthquake. On April 4, 2010, a magnitude 7.2 quake struck near Guadalupe Victoria, Mexico, just south of the U.S. border. The tremor lasted nearly 90 seconds and was widely felt across Southern California, including El Centro, where it caused structural damage to homes, mobile parks, public buildings, and water infrastructure. Liquefaction-related failures were reported in several areas, including the Calexico Wastewater Treatment Plant, Sunbeam Lake Dam, and levee systems near El Centro.
The quake also led to the demolition of several iconic structures, including the El Centro Public Library and the old water tower on Eighth Street and Vine Avenue, which had become unsafe. Emergency shelters were activated, and city officials worked to secure federal assistance, though FEMA support was limited. The disaster prompted long-term recovery efforts and the eventual construction of a new library funded by local sales tax measures.
Other notable seismic events include the 1940 El Centro earthquake, which was the first major quake recorded by a strong-motion seismograph near a fault rupture, and the 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake, which caused widespread damage and fires. The region continues to be monitored closely by geologists due to its complex fault systems and history of seismic activity.
Sites of interest
Stark Field is home of a minor league baseball team El Centro Imperials of the Arizona Summer League.Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which over 99% is land.El Centro is located in the Imperial Valley. The city is below sea level and the largest city in the United States below sea level. The Imperial Valley is in the Colorado Desert, an extension of the larger Sonoran Desert.
The agriculture industry's demand for water is supplied by canals diverting water from the nearby Colorado River. The Salton Sea was created after a 1905 flood from the Colorado River.
The El Centro earthquake of 1940 had a moment magnitude of 6.9 and a maximum perceived intensity of X on the Mercalli intensity scale. It was the first major earthquake to be recorded by a strong-motion seismograph located next to a fault rupture. It was intensely studied by structural engineers and assumed to be typical until the Northridge earthquake of 1994. In this region, the geology is dominated by the transition of the tectonic plate boundary from rift to transverse fault. The southernmost strands of the San Andreas Fault connect the northernmost extensions of the East Pacific Rise. Consequently, the region is subject to earthquakes, and the crust is being stretched, resulting in a sinking of the terrain over time.
Climate
El Centro has a hot desert climate and is the southernmost desert city below sea level in the continental United States. It features long, extremely hot summers, and mild winters. El Centro has over 350 days of sunshine and under of rain annually. Winter temperatures are in the mid to high 60s °F with over-night lows in the low 40s °F . During summer days of June; typically the driest month of the year with no precipitation, the dry, desert heat can push temperatures well above, while the nights stay in the high 70s °F.The North American Monsoon typically increases moisture. At times, the climate can resemble that of tropical areas in the Caribbean due to Gulf of California moisture surges. Humid air from the gulf surges northward into the Imperial Valley and El Centro area, making the summer heat oppressive at times. This leads to daily thunderstorms that can bring hail, downpours, lightning, and dust storms, more commonly known as Haboob.
During the Eastern Pacific Hurricane season, remnants of hurricanes or tropical storms may track through the desert and can result in heavy thunderstorms. This can lead to significantly higher than normal precipitation, at times bringing heavy rain. A few examples of this are Hurricane Hilary and Hurricane Nora
The precipitation in the winter months is predominantly rain showers from the occasional winter storms. At times these storms bring cold temperatures to El Centro and surrounding cities, and mountain snowfall to the nearby Mountains. El Niño and La Niña play a large role in how much rain falls in the winter, La Nina typically brings drier and cooler conditions to El Centro and surrounding areas. El Niño tends to being wetter and average temperatures.
Snow is almost totally unknown in the area. However, on December 12, 1934, a very powerful winter storm brought record cold and snowfall to El Centro and surrounding areas of the Imperial Valley. Snow began falling at 8:45 p.m. December 11 and by 5 a.m. the next day of snow had blanketed the desert floor.
Another instance of freezing precipitation was observed in December 1967 as a mix of sleet hail. On average there are about 15 days that dip below.
Being below sea level, El Centro has warm afternoons and cold mornings in winter. The coldest daily maximum on record is on December 14, 1967, and the mean for the coldest day is at for the reference period between 1991 and 2020. The warmest low temperature on record is, recorded on August 30, 1976. The mean for the hottest night annually is at. The wettest "rain year" was from July 1977 to June 1978 with and the driest from July 2001 to June 2002 with
Economy
As of 2009 the employment of El Centro residents is dominated by the local government, California state government, and federal government. Two nearby prisons and a U.S. Border Patrol station provide employment; The Economist states that the prisons and border patrol were "relatively untouched" by the late-2000s recession. The El Centro area has many farming plots, where carrots, lettuce, and other crops are produced, and therefore the El Centro economy is subject to seasonal variations like other farming areas. Between November and March in winter periods, El Centro-area farmers harvest lettuce for $8–10 per hour. During March the harvest moves to the north and is no longer in El Centro; in previous eras farmers migrated, while in the first decade of the 21st century many collect unemployment benefits during the summer.El Centro is surrounded by thousands of acres of farmland that has transformed the desert into one of the most productive farming regions in California with an annual crop production of over $1 billion. Agriculture is still the largest industry in Imperial County and accounts for 48% of all employment.
Being the commercial center of Imperial County, fifty percent of the jobs in the El Centro come from the service and retail sector.
A recent growth in the interest of Imperial County as a filming location, has spurred growth in servicing this industry. Due to its desert environment and proximity to Los Angeles, California, movies are sometimes filmed in the sand dunes outside the agricultural portions of the Imperial County. These have included Return of the Jedi, Stargate, The Scorpion King, Jarhead, Into the Wild, and American Sniper.