Hardwick, California
Encyclopedia
Hardwick is a census-designated place
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 (CDP) in Kings County, California
Kings County, California
Kings County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is located in a rich agricultural region. Kings County is also home to NAS Lemoore, which is the U.S. Navy's newest and largest master jet air station. The county seat is Hanford...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is part of the Hanford
Hanford, California
Hanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities...

Corcoran
Corcoran, California
Corcoran is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Corcoran is located south-southeast of Hanford, at an elevation of 207 feet . It is part of the Hanford–Corcoran, Metropolitan Statistical Area...

 Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 138 at the 2010 Census. The village is located 6.5 miles (10 km) northwest of Hanford
Hanford, California
Hanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities...

, at an elevation of 249 feet (76 m).

Hardwick is in the San Joaquin Valley
San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...

 on Excelsior Avenue between 14th and 15th Avenues. The Kings River
Kings River (California)
The Kings River is a major river of south-central California. About long, it drains an area of the high western Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley. A large alluvial fan has formed where the river's gradient decreases in the Central Valley so the river divides into distributaries...

 runs 1.2 miles (1.9 km) north of the community. Its ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 is 93230 and the community is inside area code 559
Area code 559
Area code 559 is an area code in Central California, serving the counties ofFresno, Madera, Kings, and Tulare. It was created on November 14, 1998, when the southern half of the area code 209 reached full capacity....

.

The Kings County Fire Department operates a fire station in Hardwick.

The community is located in the Kings River-Hardwick School District.

History

Hardwick was named to commemorate an official of the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

.

A post office was established in Hardwick in 1895, discontinued in 1904, reestablished in 1909, and finally permanently closed in 1942. Subsequently, the community has been served by the post office located in Hanford.

The first school in the community was moved from the then-fading town of Kingston
Kingston, California
Kingston is a former town that is no longer in existence. Originally in Fresno County, until 1909 when Fresno County lands in the vicinity, south of Kings river were transfered to Kings County, California. It was located on the south bank of the Kings River northwest of Hanford at Whitmore's...

. Another schoolhouse was reportedly built in 1893. Subsequently, a new school was constructed in 1914 and operated until the Hardwick and Kings River schools unified in 1962. The present fire station is located on the site of that school.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Hardwick had a population of 138. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 994.6 people per square mile (384.0/km²). The racial makeup of Hardwick was 63 (45.7%) White, 5 (3.6%) African American, 0 (0.0%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 67 (48.6%) from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 3 (2.2%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 86 persons (62.3%).

The Census reported that 137 people (99.3% of the population) lived in households, 1 (0.7%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.

There were 34 households, out of which 20 (58.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 21 (61.8%) were opposite-sex married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 2 (5.9%) had a female householder with no husband present, 4 (11.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 4 (11.8%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
POSSLQ
POSSLQ is an abbreviation for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters," a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households....

, and 1 (2.9%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 6 households (17.6%) were made up of individuals and 3 (8.8%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.03. There were 27 families
Family (U.S. Census)
A family or family household is defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state...

(79.4% of all households); the average family size was 4.56.

The population was spread out with 52 people (37.7%) under the age of 18, 16 people (11.6%) aged 18 to 24, 29 people (21.0%) aged 25 to 44, 27 people (19.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 14 people (10.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25.5 years. For every 100 females there were 112.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 115.0 males.

There were 37 housing units at an average density of 266.7 per square mile (103.0/km²), of which 18 (52.9%) were owner-occupied, and 16 (47.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.9%. 63 people (45.7% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 74 people (53.6%) lived in rental housing units.

The general store at one time, from the mid 1940's to sometime around the late 1970's, was owned and operated by the Fisher family, Jack and Marge. They lived in a house on the adjoining property across the alley and behind the store. The store also had two gasoline pumps, sold grocery items, hardware items and was also the local feed store. The store carried a somewhat "Wild West" reputation as being the store to "Not burglarize", as the owner shot at least two burglars over the years. If anyone can verify the precice dates of the store ownership, please add/edit the date information.

External links

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