Salinas Public Library

The Salinas Public Library

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1950 - 1959

Salinas, the brash town that eclipsed the earlier settlement of Natividad by luring in the railroad, incorporating, and winning the right to be the county seat, all in the 1870’s, was still growing eighty years later. Between 1950 and 1956 the council began a long series of annexations that brought 43 separate additions to the city, doubling the area. The additions were made on all sides of the city. Home construction was on the rise, and the population went from 13,917 in 1950 to 18,957 in 1960.

1940 - 1949

If the Thirties were tumultuous, the Forties were cataclysmic. War brought serious upheaval to the City of Salinas which had a population of 11,586 in 1940.

1930 - 1939

By 1930 the Salinas population reached 10,263, and would continue to grow given the area’s many advantages. Fine weather, an expanding agricultural industry, and later the government assisted building programs and projects drew refugees from the harsh reality of the Depression and the conditions of the Dust Bowl in other parts of the county. New residents were not always welcome.