Written on the back of this old photograph: "President Harrison speaking in the Front Street Park (Tulare). About 1885.   Platform in the picture is outlined in Redwood bark.".      The date is actually April 25, 1891.    President Benjamin Harrison stopped in Tulare as part of his 1891 railroad tour of much of the United States.    The platform is said to have been a large cross section from a giant sequoia, with its bark strapped on... you can see this in the first close-up image, below.   The president apparently made a joke about this being his first actual stump speech.

Two close-up images:

There is a military unit at the right side of this close-up image.   The U.S. Army wore spiked helmets with their fancy dress uniforms during the 1880's-90's.

On the left side of this close-up, there are two Chinese gentlemen with their long queue hair braids.

A photo postcard image of the blacksmith shop owned by Thomas Jefferson Clarkson, in Exeter.  Circa 1908.
Clarkson was born in 1860.    He moved to Tulare County in 1871.   And from about 1904, he operated a general blacksmithing and agricultural repair shop in Exeter.    His listing in the 1910 city directory: "Clarkson TJ, blksmith, Pine and Filbert av".

Photo postcard by Lindley Eddy, circa 1914.   This road to Giant Forest (Sequoia National Park) has an interesting history.   The majority of the road, leading to the edge of the park, was built in the late 1880's.   That road was constructed mostly with pick-axe and shovel by the utopian socialist Kaweah Cooperative Colony.    The Colony did this in a failed attempt to set up a logging operation in the Giant Forest area.    
Fun Fact:  The General Sherman Tree  was originally named the Karl Marx Tree, by the Kaweah Colonists.
President Harrison signed a bill creating Sequoia National Park in 1890.   For several years after this, the Kaweah Colony fought unsuccessfully for the ownership of the Giant Forest area.    By 1900, the Colony's road (the only real access to the Park), had fallen into disrepair.   But by 1903, the road was repaired and was extended into the park by U.S. Cavalry buffalo soldiers.    It was these soldiers' job to protect the park, during this time period.   They were under the command of  Capt. Charles Young.   Young was only the third African American to graduate from West Point.
Starting around the time of this photo, automobiles became more common in the park.  Much of the road only allowed for one-way traffic, so specific hours were set for when traffic could move up and then down from the park.
Most of this roadway was abandoned after the opening of a new route in 1926.

An old photograph from the Visalia studio of S.W. Watrous.
On the back of the photo, someone has written: "Guy & wife Ella Rockwell".
I believe this is the wedding photograph of Lorenzo Anson Rockwell and Sarah Ellen Pennebaker, taken in 1880.   Sarah was referred to as "Miss Ella Pennebaker", in one publication from the period.
  They had one child, a boy named Guy Lionel Rockwell.  I'd guess that "Guy" was also Lorenzo's nickname.
Lorenzo worked in the Visalia area as a builder/contractor and  as a school teacher.    In 1884, he moved to Traver and opened a drug store.   He was a trustee on the Traver school board. (This was back when Traver was a boom-town).
Sadly, Ella died in 1884, at the age of 24.   Photograph of Ella's gravestone in the Visalia Public Cemetery.

Photograph by the Visalia studio of C.A. Myers, circa 1893.

Photo by E.M. Davidson of Visalia, circa 1891.

Photo circa 1897,  by Robinson & Churchman.     Photographer Ida Robinson is the earliest female professional photographer, that I know of, who worked in Tulare County.

Photo by E.M. Davidson of Visalia, circa 1891.

Photo by C.A. Myers, circa 1893.

Photo by E.M. Davidson of Visalia, circa 1892.

I rarely see old cabinet card photographs like this, with the date as part of the studio ID.

The photographer, Charles Albert Myers, would have been 22 or 23 years old in 1891.

Photo by the Visalia studio of E.M. Davidson, circa 1888.
Photographer Ellis M. Davidson had his Visalia studio from about 1886 to 1894.   During this time,  Davidson appears to have taken a lot of outdoors photographs.  By doing this, he chronicled a lot of what was going on in Tulare County, during that period.     He has been credited with taking perhaps the most famous late 19th century photograph from this area:   The photo of the mortally wounded train robber John Sontag, at Stone Corral.

Photo by C.A. Myers, circa 1892.    From Myers' Visalia studio at  Holt Block  (the NW corner of Court and Main Streets).

A small portrait from the Visalia studio of Kiefer & Sammis.     This photo is heavily damaged and faded, but I include it here because it's the oldest original image from Tulare County, that I own.
On the back of it someone has written: "W. S. Shearer, age 17, Visalia Cal.".     This would most likely be Willow Springs Shearer, who was born 7/16/1849.    If taken when Willow Shearer was 17, it would have been in 1866 or 1867; which would coincide with the dates the studio of Kiefer & Sammis is thought to have been in Visalia (i.e. About 1867).
To put things into historical perspective, this would have been about 5 years before the towns of Tulare and Fresno existed.
You can just make out the powder-horn tucked into his belt, that he would have used for the muzzle-loading rifle.

 An old photo postcard by Hammond's Studio of Porterville.    On the back is written: "Merry Xmas from the Allens to you all. ... Ethel".   And in a different handwriting, is written: "Glen Edward Allen, Age 5 yrs. 1916".
Back then, it was popular to have personal photos printed in the form of a  postcard.
Glen's parents were Edward Loofe Allen and Ethel Stella Ross.
The Allen family was originally from Canada. They are listed in records as living in Plano and then Porterville, from about 1910 to the 1960's.

The Dinuba home of  Jacob Wilburn Jack, circa 1900.      According to the person who sold the photograph, this was one of the first Dinuba homes with indoor plumbing.    The story goes that some of the local residence thought that Mr. Jack was crazy for putting his outhouse indoors!     The home doesn't appear to have electricity at this time, e.g. No visible wires to the house, and the water-tank appears to have an AerMotor wind-powered pump.

Photo postcard image of the General Sherman Tree,  circa 1911.    Lindley Eddy is the photographer.
Close up:

A close-up of the sign, which says: "Wood and Bark of Sequoia Trees, either standing or fallen, will not be molested in this Park.".    I've seen similar signs in old photos of Grant Grove, warning people not to take bark off of trees.    I'm guessing this was a problem with people taking bark and wood  as souvenirs.

Photo by Downey's Art Studio, Tulare.   Circa 1893.

Photograher G. E. Garver,  Porterville.  Circa 1895.

Photograph by Charles Albert Myers.   Voter registration list Myers as living in Porterville in 1896.    Prior to this he had a studio in Visalia, and later I believe he had several studio locations in San Francisco.      Note spelling of Porterville with a middle "s".   This is also how the U.S. Postal Service spelled the town's name, until about 1914.

Photo by Doran (James Turner Doran) of Tulare.  Circa 1892

Another Doran Studio photograph.    Circa 1889.

Photograph by the Visalia studio of S.W. Watrous (Stephen West Watrous), circa 1882.

During this period, that same unusual looking chair appeared in a lot of Watrous's studio photographs.

From an old photo postcard, circa 1908.    This is Visalia, looking westward down Oak Ave., near its corner with Church St.    There's a horse drawn street sprinkler in the foreground with a Visalia Electric Railroad passenger car, to the right.   The old county courthouse in the background.    Street sprinklers were needed because Oak Ave. wasn't paved at that time.
These Visalia Electric Railroad passenger cars ran by themselves, powered by electric motors (via contact with overhead power-lines).   The VE Railroad ran these types of cars from Visalia to Exeter, and then on to Lemon Cove and Woodlake.

 Written on the back of this school photo:   "Elsie Heard.  Taken at Roche Avenue School.  November 1924.   Porterville, Calif.    Second year in school. 6 years old.".        I assume Elsie is the girl in the front row, second from the right (someone has drawn an "X" on her shoulder).  
I don't know much about the photo company ("T.C.W.  Co.,  251 Post, -S.F.-");    other than finding examples of this studio mark on California school photos from Chico, Sultana,  and possibly  La Jolla.

(Update: 3/6/24):   The photographer was  Theodor Clemens Wohlbrück, e.g. The 1921 San Francisco directory lists his address as 251 Post Street.   He had a previous history of taking school class photos in Massachusetts.

 Family photo by Photo by the Visalia studio of  Robinson & Churchman (Ida Robinson & Schuyler E. Churchman), circa 1899.    

 Tourist posing in front of the General Sherman Tree, with a photographer.
From an early photo postcard, circa 1907.

 Photo by E. M. Davidson, of Visalia.   Circa 1892.

An old photo postcard image of the 1909 Lindsay High School girls' basketball team.
It's addressed to Carl Stelling of San Jose, CA.      The message on the card:
'"Dear Carl, Maybe you reconize some the group.  This is what we will take to "wipe up" Exeter Hi (maybe).  Game comes off Sat sure.   I hope it don't rain.    Our suits are green with red 'L.H.S'. ... Nina'".

Stagecoach in Giant Forest (Sequoia National Park), circa 1910.
Because of the rough mountain roads, horse drawn stages were commonly used in this area up to the early 1910s.    By around 1913, some of these stage companies had switched to automobile stages to bring visitors to the parks.      The photo is by Lindley Eddy. 

Photo by  Howard Clinton Tibbitts, circa 1911.   This is a scan from the glass negative.    Tibbitts listed this image as "Alfalfa Field - Visalia".

 Photo postcard image of the Porterville Citrus Booth at the 1908 Citrus Fair in Visalia.

 Postcard image of the Mt. Whitney Power Company facility near Springville, circa 1911.    This company started around 1899.    By 1914, they had five plants working along the Kaweah and Tule Rivers.   Mt. Whitney Power became part of  the Southern California Edison Company in 1920.
 Close up:

Postcard image of Dinuba's  L  Street,   postmarked  9/25/1916.

Photograph by the Visalia studio of E.M. Davidson, circa 1888.
On the back of the photo is written: "Tillie & Jim Mehrten, Twins (youngest)".
Most likely, this is an image of Matilda Mae & James Arthur Mehrten.   They are indeed twins and  the youngest children of Louis Mehrten and Mae Elizabeth Poppe.   They were born on Sept. 7, 1879  at the family home in Swamp Ranch (near the present town of Woodlake).     

Tillie Mehrten married Thomas William Homer in 1901,  and they lived on the Homer family ranch on Dry Creek.    I believe this is the Homer Ranch that is now a nature reserve.

Jim Mehrten was a longtime resident of the Three Rivers area.    He married Amy Myrtle Odenbaugh in 1902.    During the early 1900's  he carried mail, freight and passengers up to Giant Forest via stagecoach.     During the 1930's he built and operated a mountain resort in Silver City (Mineral King). 

---- Information on the Mehrten's is from the book Pioneers in Paradise,  by Sophie Britten;    and from the website Slices of Time  which also is the source of this photograph (and the 2 photos below)

Photo by the studio of  Robinson and Churchman,  Visalia.     Written on the back:  "Gerald Clinton,  two months - twenty days".       Most likely this is an image of  Gerald Hobert Clinton.   The official source documents I can find online list his birth date as July 28, 1897;  in Tulare.    That would mean the photo was taken on-or-about October 18, 1897.

Gerald Clinton married Alice M. Hylton.

Photograph by C. A. Myers.     On the back is written "Marion Embert Todd".     He was born in Orosi  on May 12, 1891.       Note the hand at the right edge of the image,  touching the bottom of his skirt.     This is probably the hand of his mother, Nellie Emogene Titus.     Back then,  toddlers often had their photos taken with their mothers very close-by;  to help keep the child calm.

Marion Todd married Georgia Francis Beedle.