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Atwater is a small city of about 23,000 sitting smack dab in the middle
of California. We have a good mix of ethnicities, with about 65%
white, 17% hispanic, 9% black, and 7% asian. The average house runs
for about $95,000. The average household income was about $32,000 in 1990.
Currently, the largest employer in Atwater is J.R.
Wood, with about 2000 employees, which processes fruits and vegetables,
including over 31 million pounds of freestone peaches per year. Another
distinctive business in Atwater is Joseph
Gallo Farms, which has one of the largest number of cattle in the world.
We also have our very own City of Atwater
home page, as well as another page at www.atwatercity.com. |
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Atwater has been through some major changes lately, with the closing
of Castle Air Force Base in September, 1995, taking with it over 6,000
jobs. The redevelopment agency has been hard at work bringing in
new businesses and institutions. There is Pacific Telesis, with a
large Customer Service Center; Pacesetter, building modular homes out of
a 300,000 square-foot hanger; and several smaller businesses. Also
planned is a new $70-$80 million, 1,000-bed high security federal penitentiary. By the way, would you like to work at the new penitentiary?
To learn more about Castle Air Force Base re-use, Click
Here. |
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A popular place to visit is the Castle
Air museum, also located at the Castle Air Force Base site. It
has some 40 planes from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War,
at least one of which you can walk through and see the inside, including
the cockpit. There is also an indoor museum with historical artifacts
and information related to those aircraft. |
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Inspired by the tragic accident of the Challenger 51-L mission in which
7 astronauts lost their lives, including America's first teacher in space,
Christa McAuliffe, The Challenger
Learning Center aims to teach students about all aspects of space flight
and exploration. Students participate in simulated space flight
missions, including flight control and science experiments. They
may attempt a Rendezvous with a Comet, a Return to the Moon, or participate
in the Summer Space Explorer program. |
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Aviation Challenge
provides young people in grades 4 through 12 an exciting week of training
similar to that of a real Jet Fighter Pilot. They learn water
survival (including sliding down a 250 foot slide into water to simulate
a parachute splashdown) and land survival (find your way with a real military
GPS reciever, light a fire, make it back alive with only a paintball gun
to protect you) techniques. They also fly a state-of-the-art Jet
Fighter Simulator, including a simulated dog-fight. |
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The Atwater Theme
Park is currently in the planning stages, but it is fixing to be one
of the largest, most diverse theme parks in the country. Situated
right by the Santa Fe railroad lines (also used by Amtrak), it's 62.3 acres
is slated to have an amphitheater, an RV Park, a 500-room hotel, a water
park, a steel park, a strip mall with a large ice arena, and a wine and
cheese tasting area. |