Davis

Town in Yolo County, north-central California; population (1990) 46,200. It is situated on Putah Creek, in the Sacramento Valley, 23 km/14 mi west of Sacramento. Founded in the 1850s as a farm by Jerome C Davis, the community is a trade centre for a region producing barley, wheat, rice, alfalfa, sugar beets, beans, and tomatoes, and has food processing, biotechnical, veterinary supply, and other light industries. The town is noted for its university-based research facilities and social life.

In 1905, the University of California established a branch campus in Davis with an experimental farm, which is now its College of Agriculture. The present Davis campus, also includes the schools of Veterinary Medicine (1948), Law (1966), and Medicine (1968). The National Primate Center (1962) and D-Q (Deganawidah-Quetzalcoatl) University (1971) are also here.