Nathaniel Vise, for Whom Visalia, Calif., Was Named

Nathaniel Vise, for Whom Visalia, Calif., Was Named

Visalia, CA, was named for Nathaniel Vise, a Kentucky native born in 1810 who later owned a restaurant in San Francisco that featured bear meat. He became know as "the bear hunter." In 1852, he filed on a quarter acre in what now is Visalia, near the current (2009) Tulare County Library, thus starting the town. He also voted in that year's election to form Tulare County. He led Visalia's competition with "Woodsville" to be the county's leading town. He was a wanderer, engaging in several restaurant enterprises, and also hunting and fur trading. He ultimately died in 1882 in Texarkana, Texas, of cyclone-related injuries.

Annie Mitchell History Room

San Joaquin Valley Library System

This image is being made available for educational and research purposes only, under the Fair Use clause of the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 section 107 U.S.C.) Further questions regarding the image or its use may be directed to the Tulare County Library, 200 W. Oak Ave., Visalia, CA 93291

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