Raymond, California

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Raymond, California is an unincorporated area of less than a thousand people in Madera County. It is located approx. 20 miles NNE of Madera on Road 600 at the Junction of Green Mountain Road.

The town's history states that it was named for Mr. T. Raymond of Raymond & Whitcomb Travel Association in San Francisco. However, according to Arthur Raymond, it was named for his father Mr. Walter Raymond of Raymond & Whitcomb Travel Association in Boston, Mass. This same Walter Raymond is the founder of the Raymond Hotel in Pasadena, 1886. He came to Pasadena with the plan to build a hotel. The money for the hotel came from his father Emmons Raymond who was a stockholder in the Santa Fe Railroad. While Mr. Raymond was making plans for his hotel, he was approached by the good people of the yet-to-be Raymond town who were looking for a prominent figure to dedicate their city. He was offered that if he would cut the ribbon for the ceremony, they would name the city after him. He accepted, and the rest is history.

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• source: Mr. Arthur Raymond, A Gentleman of the Old School, a biography of his father Walter Raymond, Published by the Pasadena Historical Museum, 1983.