Spreckels, California

Spreckels is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California, United States.<ref name=gnis /> Spreckels is located Template:Convert south of Salinas, at an elevation of Template:Cvt.<ref name=CGN>Template:California's Geographic Names</ref><ref name=gnis /> Its population was 692 at the 2020 census.<ref name="Census 2020"/>

Spreckels is one of the best-preserved company towns in the United States.Template:Citation needed It was built to house workers for the Spreckels Sugar Company plant, which operated there from 1899 until 1982, named after its founder "Sugar King" Claus Spreckels. When it opened, the Spreckels plant was the world's largest sugar beet factory, each day consuming Template:Cvt of water—with much of it pumped from wells—to process Template:Cvt of beets.

Spreckels is associated with the writer John Steinbeck, who lived and worked there for a time, and used it as a setting in his novel Tortilla Flat. Spreckels was used as a location for the 1955 Steinbeck movie East of Eden.

History

The Spreckels post office opened in 1898.<ref name=CGN /> The name honors Claus Spreckels, who built a sugar mill at the site.<ref name=CGN /> The company began to relinquish control of the town when they started selling homes in the community to the public in about 1925.Template:Citation needed

Geography

Spreckels is located in northern Monterey County at Template:Coord.<ref name=gnis /> It is about Template:Convert south of Salinas, the county seat, on the north side of the Salinas River, and approximately Template:Convert east of Old Hilltown.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Spreckels CDP has a total area of Template:Convert, all of it land.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2022"/>

Climate

This region experiences warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above Template:Cvt. According to the Köppen climate classification, Spreckels has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, Csb on climate maps.<ref>Climate Summary for Spreckels, California</ref>

Employers

Spreckels is home to two major agricultural employers: Tanimura & Antle and D'Arrigo Brothers.

Demographics

Spreckels first appeared as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. census.<ref name=2000CensusCA/>

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Spreckels had a population of 692. The population density was Template:Convert. The racial makeup of Spreckels was 426 (61.6%) White, 4 (0.6%) African American, 9 (1.3%) Native American, 19 (2.7%) Asian, 6 (0.9%) Pacific Islander, 75 (10.8%) from other races, and 153 (22.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 232 persons (33.5%).<ref name=DP1>Template:Cite web</ref>

The whole population lived in households. There were 242 households, out of which 97 (40.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 161 (66.5%) were married-couple households, 11 (4.5%) were cohabiting couple households, 55 (22.7%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 15 (6.2%) had a male householder with no partner present. 44 households (18.2%) were one person, and 23 (9.5%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.86.<ref name=DP1/> There were 190 families (78.5% of all households).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The age distribution was 195 people (28.2%) under the age of 18, 32 people (4.6%) aged 18 to 24, 166 people (24.0%) aged 25 to 44, 169 people (24.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 130 people (18.8%) who were 65Template:Nbspyears of age or older. The median age was 39.7Template:Nbspyears. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males.<ref name=DP1/>

There were 260 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert, of which 242 (93.1%) were occupied. Of these, 172 (71.1%) were owner-occupied, and 70 (28.9%) were occupied by renters.<ref name=DP1/>

2010

At the 2010 census, Spreckels had a population of 673. The population density was Template:Convert. The racial makeup of Spreckels was 483 (71.8%) White, 0 (0.0%) African American, 13 (1.9%) Native American, 26 (3.9%) Asian, 130 (19.3%) from other races, and 21 (3.1%) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 193 people (28.7%).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The whole population lived in households, no one lived in noninstitutionalized group quarters and no one was institutionalized.

Of the 229 households, 89 (38.9%) had children under 18 living in them, 134 (58.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 27 (11.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 12 (5.2%) had a male householder with no wife present, 7 (3.1%) were unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 2 (0.9%) were same-sex married couples or partnerships; 45 households (19.7%) were one person and 17 (7.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.94. There were 173 families (75.5% of households); the average family size was 3.38.

The age distribution was as follows: 172 people (25.6%) were under 18, 44 people (6.5%) were between 18 and 24, 173 people (25.7%) were between 25 and 44, 208 people (30.9%) were between 45 and 64, and 76 people (11.3%) were 65 or older. The median age was 39.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. Among those 18 and older, there were 92.7 males for every 100 females.

The 246 housing units had an average density of 2,013.8 per square mile; of the occupied units, 160 (69.9%) were owner-occupied and 69 (30.1%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.6%; the rental vacancy rate was 2.8%. In all, 467 people (69.4% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 206 people (30.6%) lived in rental housing units.

2000

At the 2000 census, the median household income was $58,009 and the median family income was $51,250. Males had a median income of $22,250 versus $24,750 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $19,752. None of the families and 1.1% of the population were living below the poverty line, including none under 18 and none over 64.<ref name="GR2">Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Spreckelsville, Hawaii - former sugarcane-industry company town in Hawaii, also started by Claus Spreckels.

External links

• Spreckels Guide—Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Spreckels Memorial District
• Spreckels Community Services District