Brawley, California
city in Imperial County, California, United States
Brawley (formerly Braly) is a city in Imperial County, California, United States within the Imperial Valley.
The population was 26,416 at the 2020 census, up from 24,953 at the 2010 census. Year-round agriculture is an important economic activity in Brawley. The town has a significant cattle and feed industry, and hosts the annual Cattle Call Rodeo. Summer daytime temperatures often exceed 105 °F (41 °C).
History
The Imperial Land Company laid out the town in 1902 and named it Braly in honor of J.H. Braly, who owned the land. After Braly refused to permit the use of his name, the name was changed to Brawley. The first post office at Brawley opened in 1903.
Incorporated in 1908, it was a "tent city" of only 100 persons involved in railroads and the earliest introduction of agriculture. It had a population of 11,922 in 1950, but population growth was slow from the 1960s to the early 1990s.
“Brawley, California” enters the record as city in Imperial County, California, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Brawley, California and city can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Brawley, California” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Brawley, California and city provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q902878. VIAF identifies the subject as 146597033. The Library of Congress control number is n82006071. Authority coordinates are 32.979, -115.530. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2010, 1902 and 1903.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Brawley, California” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.