Desert Center, California
Riverside County
Desert Center is a census -designated place in Riverside County in the U.S. state of California. The village has 204 inhabitants (as of 2010) and is located between Indio and Blythe at the meeting point of the two highways Interstate 10 and California State Route 177 to Desert Center also includes the settlement of Lake Tamarisk.
Geography
Desert Center is located in the central part of the Riverside counties in California. The settlement is located in the desert, away from other places. At the nearby area include the Coachella Valley and Joshua Tree National Park.
With 204 inhabitants (as of 2010 census ) and an area of approximately 78.8 km ², composed entirely of the country, the population density of only 2.6 inhabitants per square kilometer. The center is located at an altitude of 200 meters.
History
Formation
The town was founded in 1921 by Stephen A. Ragsdale and his wife Lydia. Ragsdale was a native of Arkansas itinerant preacher and cotton farmer. In 1915, he traveled from his farm in the Palo Verde Valley along the Colorado River to Los Angeles. The road from Phoenix to Los Angeles was sandy, and Ragsdales car remained on the track near the settlement Gruendyke 's Well lie. Here Ragsdale attended a prospector named Bill Gruendyke until his car was repaired and he could continue his trip to Los Angeles.
After his return, Ragsdale and his family moved to the remote location in the desert, where he had lived. Fifty miles from the nearest inhabited areas, provided the family travelers who passed the settlement. Ragsdale renamed the place in Desert Center. In 1921 it was decided to replace the sand road through a modern, paved highway. This became known as U.S. Highway 60 and built about eight kilometers north of the old sand road. For this reason, Ragsdale was on the old Desert Center and founded instead on the new motorway cafe. This new settlement was later expanded to include a grocery store, a post office and a place for travelers and is the present site of Desert Center. Ragsdale died in 1971 and was buried in the Coachella Valley Public Cemetery in Indio.
Military use during World War II
In the year 1942, when Desert Center had only little inhabitants, was built on orders of General George S. Patton in support of maneuvers in California and Arizona, the Desert Center Army Airfield (now the Desert Center Airport ) with a size of 47,000 km ². Here troops were trained for operations in North Africa against the German forces led by Erwin Rommel. After the military use of the area Desert Center lost importance again. Even when the old U.S. Highways 60 and 70 were converted to Interstate 10, Desert Center remained largely unchanged.
Current situation
Today, the site still serves as a stopover when traveling through the desert between Indian and the Colorado River. The place is also home to farms and some trailer parks that are inhabited, especially in the winter of tourists from the cold northern states, and the resettlement of Lake Tamarisk. The Desert Center Airport is privately operated since 1992.
In the 1980s, Desert Center benefited from the popularity of the profit Jojobastrauchs. Occurring brackish water, sandy soils and the dry climate made the area ideal for growing desert plant that is mainly as a supplier of oil to the beauty products of importance.
Policy
Desert Center is part of the 28th district in the Senate of California, which is currently represented by Democrat Ted Lieu W.. In the California State Assembly, the place is assigned to the 56th District and is thus represented by Democrat V. Manuel Pérez. At the federal level Desert Center California's 36th congressional district belongs to which a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R 1 and is represented by Democrat Raul Ruiz.