Chualar, California

Chualar is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California. Chualar is located 10mi southeast of Salinas, at an elevation of 115 feet (35 m). The population was 1,190 at the 2010 census, down from 1,444 at the 2000 census.GeographyChualar is located at.According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.6sqmi, all of it land.In her Spanish and Indian Place Names of California (1914) Sanchez states that Chualar was the indigenous word for an abundant and native goosefoot. This plant could possibly be Chenopodium californicum, the California goosefoot (also known as pigweed). In his 1500 California Place Names (1998), William Bright writes that the name is Spanish for "where the chual grows," chual being Mexican Spanish for pigweed or goosefoot, and derived ultimately from Nahuatl tzoalli.HistoryThe Chualar post office opened in 1871, closed in 1873, and re-opened in 1874.At a railroad crossing about one mile south of town, a bus carrying Mexican migrant workers collided with a train in September 1963, killing 32 passengers and injuring 25. It was the most serious road accident in U.S. history, and helped spur abolition of the bracero guest worker program. The portion of U.S. Route 101 where the accident occurred was named "Bracero Memorial Highway" at the 50th anniversary of the accident in 2013. At that time two survivors of the crash were still alive.