Avenal (Spanish for "Oat field") is a city in Kings County, California, United States.

[9] Inmates are counted as city residents by both the United States census and the California Department of Finance.

Early American settlers arrived in the Kettleman Hills during the 1850s with dreams of raising cattle and farming.

On October 5, 1928, the well blew out with a roar which was heard 20 miles (32 km) away, spewing forth an oil so fine that its color was white, and reportedly could be used unrefined as gasoline in automobiles.

A water line was laid and later a sewer plant was installed, a post office replaced a cigar box in the general store, a fire department was organized and a community grew.

By 1936, Avenal boasted a population of 3,000—mostly oil workers—with 100 businesses and 69 private telephones and numerous community organizations.

The teeming life of the oil fields, the forward thrust of civilization into the sun-baked hills so recently in their pristine state meant the early development of nearby towns where adequate living facilities could be provided to care for the fast-growing population.

Milham City was projected by a group of Kings County citizens who owned lands on the slope of the hills east of the oil field.

It scarcely had emerged from the dream stage when the Standard Oil Company announced in 1929 that a townsite had been set aside on the northwestern slope of the hills and that it would be called Avenal.

Small and large homes were purposefully constructed to enjoy a fuller life in the erstwhile barren plains and trees were planted to provide much needed shade.

Presently, the town included 26 oil field supply houses, 12 oil field service company branches, 9 grocery stores, 9 service stations, 8 restaurants, 5 welding establishments, 4 builders' supply houses and numerous other enterprises.

While the oil fields and their urban center were populated with industrious, law-abiding people the problem of keeping the peace and maintaining the dignity of the law existed there just as it does in all other communities where there is life, action and big payrolls.

The three fire district commissioners originally elected were Ray Mohler, Floyd Rice and Jess Hamilton.

Between five and six hundred calls per month with about thirty accident cases were handled by this organization, not to mention the ambulance service extended.

In the late 1990s, the post office was relocated to its current location near the intersection of Skyline Blvd and San Joaquin Street.

The early 1970s saw two substantial projects that had significant impacts on the city: the completion of the California Aqueduct which brought in needed water to the westside of the San Jaoquin valley, and the opening of Interstate 5.

Construction has been completed on the renovation of Skyline Boulevard (California State Route 269) in the city's joint effort with Caltrans.

Avenal has also completed a massive public improvement project with the development of 52 miles (84 km) of new curbs, gutters and sidewalks throughout the city.

[10] Although Avenal's future is no longer closely tied to oil, it will always mark its beginnings from "the day Milham came in," and the cigar box on the counter of the general store which was its first post office.

In 2019, USA Today named Avenal the 10th-worst city in America due to high unemployment and violent crime.

The city boasts at being located, "Half the way from the Bay to L.A." According to the United States Census Bureau, Avenal has a total area of 19.4 square miles (50 km2), all of it land.

Growth continues today to include a more diversified economy based on oil, agriculture, and the service industry.

[19] On May 26, 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ordered the USEPA to make a final permit decision, which the agency did the following day.

[20] In June 2011, both People for Clean Air and Water and the Sierra Club filed petitions for review with the USEPA's environmental appeals board.

Their petition alleged that the proposed plant would emit excessive nitrogen oxides and is being wrongfully grandfathered in under old clean air rules.

A news story quoted him as saying: "Basically the fix was in when EPA boss Lisa Jackson broke her commitment to environmental justice and illegally approved the permit.

"[22] On November 3, 2011, The Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and Greenaction filed suit with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the EPA permit.

[26][27] Many local residents are employed in agriculture, which experienced significant growth on the westside of the San Joaquin Valley after the completion of the California Aqueduct in the early 1970s.

However, the community was impacted by the 2008-2012 global recession as well as the California drought and restrictions on pumping from the Sacramento River delta to protect endangered species.

[29] FlixBus services the city, as a stop point in between Los Angeles and the bay area, at the junction of SR 269 and I-5.