1980 The Temporary Detention Camps for Japanese Americans – Tulare Assembly Center (Tulare County Fairgrounds, Tulare) are designated a California Historical Landmark (November 15, 1980).
1981 The Foothill Growth Management Plan is adopted by Tulare County. 1982 The C. A. Elster Building (Springville, CA 190 and Tule River Dr.) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (March 25, 1982). 1982 The Bank of Italy Building (now Bank of the Sierra, 128 E. Main St., Visalia) is listed on National Register of Historic Places (April 1, 1982). 1982 The Blue Ridge National Wildlife Refuge (897 acres) is established by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect critical habitat for the endangered California condor; NOTE: this Refuge is currently closed to public access. 1983 Kaweah Oaks Preserve (V) is established in February, when Myrtle Davis Franklin sells 322 acres of oak woodland to The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Citizens of Tulare and Kings Counties raise approximately $100,000 through community donations to help TNC pay for the land. 1983 The Orosi-Cutler Branch Library (12662 Ave. 416) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (August 25, 1983). 1985 The Porterville Main U.S. Post Office (65 W. Mill Ave.) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (January 11, 1985). 1985 The Visalia Town Center Station U.S. Post Office (11 W. Acequia St.) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (January 11, 1985). 1987 The Zalud House Museum (393 Hockett St.) in Porterville is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (March 31, 1987). 1987 The Exeter Public Library (309 S. E St.) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (December 10, 1990) 1991 The Pogue Hotel (now the Lemon Cove Woman's Club, 32792 Sierra Dr.) in Lemoncove is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 1992 The Archaeological Conservancy purchases and sets aside twenty acres of the Exeter Rocky Hill site as a permanent archaeological preserve. 1994 The Hawkins family donates 110 acres of Lewis Hill (v), north of Porterville, to the Kern River Research Center to protect rare native wildflowers; in 2000 the title is transferred to the Tule Oaks Land Trust, which later merges with two other land trusts into what is now Sequoia Riverlands Trust. 1994 The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 establishes the 13,140-acre Chimney Peak Wilderness in southeast Tulare County (October 31, 1994). 1996 Wilsonia (Kings Canyon National Park; near Grant Grove) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (March 14, 1996). 1998 Elli Norris protects Circle J-Norris Ranch (v) with the first of three conservation easements (completed in 2003, covering approximately 608 acres). 1998 The Nature Conservancy gives the Kaweah Oaks Preserve (v) to the Four Creeks Land Trust (FCLT later merged with two other land trusts into what became Sequoia Riverlands Trust). 1998 Gary Adest and Barbara Brydolf purchase 722-acre River Ridge Ranch (v) and protect it with a conservation easement, held by Sequoia Riverlands Trust in partnership with State of California Wildlife Conservation Board, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Conservation Fund, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; the working ranch is opened to the public in 2000. 1999 Buck Rock Fire Lookout (v) (southeast of General Grant Village and Wilsonia, near the northern boundary of Tulare County) is re-established as a primary location for fire detection on the Sequoia National Forest/Giant Sequoia National Monument, with the help of the Buck Rock Foundation , a non-profit "dedicated to preserving the tradition of forest fire lookouts and other historically significant buildings"; Buck Rock has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. 1999 Atwell Island Land Retirement Demonstration Site is established via the Central Valley PVIA Land Retirement Program; managed by the Bureau of Land Management. 1999 The First Congregational Church of Porterville (165 E. Mill St.), built in 1908, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (January 5, 1999). 1999 Tulare Union High School Auditorium (755 E. Tulare Ave.) Building, constructed in 1935-1937, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (December 17, 1999). |
Photos on this page by: John Greening, Laurie Schwaller; and courtesy of Matthew Geer; The Porterville Recorder, Chieko Hara photo; and Wilsonia Historic District Trust