Berenda

Berenda: town in Madera County, California. A Spanish word [berrendo] meaning "antelope," so applied because the country was overrun with antelope.
        The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, 2nd ed. by Henry Gannett. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1905.

In the older literature Berenda is referred to variously as Berendo, Berrenda, Berrendo.

By 1871, the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad had reached the spot that was to become the town of Berenda. The town became an important junction on the main line through the San Joaquin Valley, because of the growing number of tourists eager to make the journey to Yosemite National Park. In the years that followed, as the following quotation testifies, the Central Pacific made a considerable investment in Berenda's railroad infrastructure.

As you can see from the map below, Berenda stood at the junction of the Visalia Division, the main railroad line that ran from Lathrop to Bakersfield, and the Yosemite Division, a branch line that took passengers to the terminus at Raymond. From Raymond tourists travelled overland to Yosemite. The Berenda to Yosemite route was described by James Mason Hutchings in 1888. We know that in 1885 Mrs. Belle Collins was the station agent at Berenda.1

Map of Berenda from Thompson's Atlas of Fresno County 1891

The town boasted a general store, a hotel, a blacksmith, saloons, and a post office opened on 12 February 1873.2 Room and board at the hotel cost from $1.50-$2.00 a day or $7 a week. It also had a school.

1Information from Larry Mullaly (lmullaly@jeffnet.org)
2Catherine Morrison Rehart, The Valley's Legends & Legacies 3, Clovis, Calif. : Word Dancer Press, c1999, p. 128.