In 1929, at the rural intersection of Grangeville and Elm, 2 miles north and one mile west of downtown Lemoore, David William Hall built his grocery store on the southwest corner across the intersection from his gas station which was on the southeast corner.
From the Lemoore Advance August 29, 1929
A new Kings county business came into existence on Monday when D. W. Hall opened a grocery store on the corner of Elm Ave and Grangeville Blvd. and which will be conducted under the management of Mr. Hall’s son, Delbert Hall.
In September of 1931 Ralph Mock accepted the position of manager of Hall’s Neighborhood grocery with his parents living in the apartment at the back of the store. In 1939 James Cornelius, who had purchased the butcher shop business from David Hall, purchased the grocery business from a Mr. Kerth.
Over the years the landscape at Hall’s Corner has gone through many changes. Elm, the Fresno County name for the road, as this area was part of Fresno County until 1909. Some years later Elm became 19 1/2, the Kings County designation, and now is a section California State Route 41 that stretches from Yosemite National Park to the ocean at Morro Bay. In the 1980s the stretch of CA 41 from the Fresno County line to just south of CA 198 was widened to 4 lanes. With the Naval Air Station Lemoore being commissioned in 1961 Grangeville Boulevard, west of CA 41, now ends at the north gate.
Around 1930, two miles west of Hall’s Grocery, the Starrett Twin Oaks Plunge opened for swimming and parties. The Plunge had electric lights for evening parties.
In 1931 the first mention of the Hall subdivision was made. It would be on the southwest corner around the grocery store.
On March 16, 1931, on the northwest corner, the new ball field was ready, and the first game of the Island baseball team was played. Later, the Lemoore Cubs would play such teams at the Island Athletes, Porterville Green Mill, Bakersfield Pirates, Fresno Sciots, Tulare Reds, and teams from Armona and Corcoran on a Sunday afternoon. There were both women’s and men’s teams.
A Halls’s Corner resident, Uriel Cross, in 1947, was hired by the California State Division of Forestry, which was setting up rural Kings County fire protection. A small garage, from Hardwick, was moved next to Uriel and his wife Mildred’s home as a temporary fire station. Uriel was the Chief and Mildred was a volunteer dispatcher. In the beginning Uriel was the only paid member with 20 or so other volunteers. Uriel then leased the front quarter of their property to the county to build a fire station. The Hall’s Corner Volunteer Fire Department was formally created in 1948. In 1963 the fire service changed from the state to the county. The fire department moved to 21st Avenue in the 1978 and all that remains at Hall’s Corner is a block building.
The Square Deal Grocery was located just north of Grangeville and Jake Webb’s Cotton Picker repair shop on the east side of 19 1/2. It was operated by Antonio Faria Costa for many years.
Many businesses have come and gone through the years. Some of the more notable are Jake Webb’s cotton picker repair, the iconic 41 Cafe last operated by Denver Eddings, Ernie’s Liquor, and many more.
Two significant changes occurred to Hall’s Corner over the years. One was the construction of Lemoore Naval Air Station, to the west, which was commissioned in 1957 and opened in 1960 which increased traffic considerably. The second was when CA 41 was widened to four lanes in the early 1980s. Many of the businesses were most likely torn down.
Research is still being done and hopefully additional information will be found.