Welcome
Holtville (formerly, Holton) is a city in Imperial County, California. Holtville is located 10.5 miles (17 km) east of El Centro, The population was 5,939 at the 2010 census, up from 5,612 at the 2000 census. It is part of the ‘El Centro, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area’. City officials believed the population doubled in the last 6 years by 2007.
Holtville was famous in the 20th century with having the Imperial Valley Carrot Festival but was confused with the Coachella Valley in the 1953 animated Looney Tunes short, Bully for Bugs. In it, Bugs Bunny requests directions to the Coachella Valley “and the carrot festival therein” when he reads the map seeking a Carrot Festival.
The city was founded by Swiss-German settlers in the 1880s often through the U.S.-Mexican border from Mexico. The construction of railroads in the 1890s, the All-American Canal in the late 1940s, U.S. Route 80 in the 1920s later converted to Interstate 8 in the 1970s and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) economic boom in the 1990s brought more people to Holtville and the Imperial Valley.
The city of Holtville, which was originally called Holton, was founded in 1903 by W.F. Holt, and incorporated on June 20, 1908. The name was changed to Holtville due to a request by the Postal Service because the name Holton sounded too much like Colton, (in San Bernardino County), the regional headquarters of the Southern Pacific Railroad at the time.
The city lies on the northeast bank of the Alamo River formed by the floods of 1905-07 when the Colorado River break made the river’s course turn west and filled the low-lying depression of water now the Salton Sea.
The old U.S. Route 80 once ran along Fifth Street through the center of town. A small obelisk in Holt Park, just north of Fifth Street, gives the distances to various points to the north, east and west. U.S. Route 80 has been decommissioned and made as County Route S80 in California. The portion in and near Holtville is now part of State Route 115.
Much of the east-west automobile traffic has been diverted to Interstate 8, about 2.5 miles to the south. Holtville is easily accessible through the Orchard Road interchange. The newly constructed State Route 7 connects Holtville with the factories and industrial areas of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.
The city was once joined by railroad to El Centro, but this line (nicknamed the “Holton Interurban”), and another railroad line going to the north, have been abandoned. The closure of the railroad station brought on economic decline to the town in the late 20th century.
The city’s major civic event is the annual Carrot Festival, held in late January or early February. It usually features a parade, a carnival and other activities over a 10-day period. Holtville was famous in the mid 20th century with having the Holtville “Carrot Festival” but was confused with the “Coachella Valley” name from Bugs Bunny animated shorts in the 1940s when he reads the map seeking a “Carrot Festival”.
A weekly newspaper, The Holtville Tribune, is distributed by mail and newsstand in the Holtville area. Its circulation is about 3,750. The daily newspaper, the Imperial Valley Press in El Centro, has circulation at over 20,000.
The city was featured in Milton J. Silverman’s bestselling novel “Open and Shut,” which chronicled the true crime story of Norma Winters, a Holtville resident who contracted for the death of her husband during the summer of 1974.
The city formerly had its own police force, but police protection is now provided by the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department.