Kerman's first story is a water stop, a robbery, and farms

Kerman’s early story starts with the railroad. Southern Pacific set up a station, pump, and watering tank here in 1891, when trains needed regular stops across the valley. The place was first called Collis, after railroad leader Collis P. Huntington.

Then came the detail people remember: an 1892 train robbery tied to the Sontag and Evans gang. It gives the town a bit of old-California drama, but the deeper story is steadier than that. The area grew because rail access, irrigation, and farming could work together.

Water from the Kings River helped more land come under cultivation. Investors William G. Kerckhoff and Jacob Mansar bought land in the area, and the name Kerman combined pieces of their names. The town later incorporated in 1946.

That history makes Kerman easier to place in the San Joaquin Valley. It is a farm town, but not in a generic way. It carries a railroad water-stop beginning, a renamed townsite, a famous robbery, and the long valley pattern of turning dry land into fields through irrigation.

For a first look, pay attention to how close town life stays to orchards, field roads, and Fresno County’s west-side farm country.