Delano, CA

Delano became a focal point of the modern farmworker movement in September 1965. More than 800 Filipino farmworkers affiliated with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee struck ten area grape vineyards on September 8, seeking higher hourly and piece rates. Led by Larry Itliong and Ben Gines, they had voted the previous night at Filipino Community Hall; the largely Latino National Farm Workers Association joined the strike within a week. Delano itself began as a Southern Pacific railroad town on July 14, 1869, and took its name from U.S. Interior Secretary Columbus Delano. The city incorporated in 1915. Census figures show its population declining from 53,041 in 2010 to 51,428 in 2020.