Fresno
Fresno is an agricultural center located in the San Joaquin Valley1 of California in the United States of America. It grew rapidly in the second half of the 20th century, particularly in the 1980s. The metropolitan area now includes 1.096 million,2 with 520 thousand in the city proper.3 The tallest building as of late winter 2017 is the Fresno United States Courthouse (225 feet, 2005). The city's visitor center is in an old water tower (106 feet, 1894).4 Within the city's county are two oil and gas fields, both important for natural gas.5
External references
Fresno skyline with mountains in the background, California, United States of America
Footnotes
1. The San Joaquin Valley is the southern half of the Central Valley. Fresno is located south of where the the San Joaquin River emerges from the mountains and turns north to eventually join the Sacramento.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_statistical_areas, accessed December 26, 2016.
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_California_cities_by_population, accessed February 10, 2017.
4. Information about buildings is from emporis.com, accessed February 10, 2017. The height is the architectural one; the Fresno Pacific Towers (1925) has an architectural height of 221 feet but is surmounted by a spike that reaches to 315 feet above the street.
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_gas_fields, accessed December 26, 2016. The fields are the Midway-Sunset Oil Field and the Kettleman-North Dome Oil Field. The latter is also in rural Kings County.
