Prunedale is a census-designated place in Monterey County, California, United States. It is located 8 miles (13 km) north of Salinas at an height above sea level of 92 feet (28 m). The population was 18,885 as of the 2020 census, up from 17,560 in 2010. Plum trees were grown in Prunedale in the in advance days of its founding, but the trees died soon after due to destitute irrigation and fertilizer.

One of the area’s prehistoric settlers was Charles Langley, a Watsonville banker, who also operated the Prunedale pronounce office, which opened in 1894, closed in 1908, and re-opened in 1953. Langley helped state the Watsonville pronounce office mail give support to in Prunedale. Langley Canyon Road in Prunedale is named after the Langley family. It was not far and wide off from the grow old of Prunedale’s founding that the plum orchard failed due to a nonappearance of irrigation and fertilizer, yet the read out Prunedale was retained. The unincorporated Place maintains a rural character in most areas.

A major spread in the area’s chronicles occurred in imitation of U.S. Route 101 was rerouted through Prunedale amongst 1931 and 1932. U.S. Highway 101 had previously direct directly from Salinas to San Juan Bautista. That out of date route is now known as San Juan Grade Road. In 1946, Highway 101 was widened to four lanes. As Prunedale has grown, increased traffic congestion made Route 101 through Prunedale a Traffic Safety Corridor and a double traffic Good zone in the late 1990s and ahead of time 2000s, with shortened speed limits to 55 miles per hour. Detailed plans to construct a 101 bypass of Prunedale did not develop. After Caltrans purchased the land for the bypass, it was given to add up the highway through Prunedale by totaling a San Miguel Canyon overpass, improving the Highway 101 and Highway 156 interchange, making more aim and fuse lanes, and making several supplementary improvements upon the roadway. These improvements were completed in the forward 2000s. In the last few years, with a terminate in traffic fatalities, the keenness limit was increased to 60 miles per hour via divulge traffic formulas.

One of the native businesses to inhabit Prunedale was Glenn’s. In the 1970s, the Prunedale Shopping Center was built. The Prunedale Senior Citizens’ Center was built in 1989 with agree funds secured by next Monterey County Supervisor Marc Del Piero. Meals for seniors and public guidance programs, including a bi-weekly food bank giveaway, continue to be operated from that facility. In the 1980s, the Prunetree Shopping Center opened for business.