Stratford, California

Stratford is a census-designated place in Kings County, California, United States. Stratford is located 14mi southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of. It is part of the Hanford - Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,277 at the 2010 census, up from 1,264 at the 2000 census.GeographyStratford lies near the historic shoreline of Tulare Lake. The Kings River flows through an artificial channel into the normally dry Tulare Lake bed about south of Stratford.According to the United States Census Bureau, Stratford has a total area of 0.7sqmi, all of it land. Stratford is located at.HistoryThe town was originally named Stratton in 1901 for William Stratton of the Empire Land and Water Company. The name was changed to Stratford in 1906 due to the efforts of the local women's club. The first post office at Stratford opened in 1910. From the 1930s through the 1970s, Stratford was the home of Irigaray's, a restaurant run by Mariana Irigaray and her daughter Alice, pioneering a Basque-inspired version on what would later be called California cuisine.Many local residents are employed in agriculture, affected by the Great Recession and the California drought.