Hollister is the county seat and largest city of San Benito County, California, United States. The population was 34,928 at the 2010 census. Hollister is primarily an agricultural town.HistoryThe Mutsun Ohlone Indians were the first known inhabitants of the Hollister region.The town, then located in Monterey County, was founded November 19, 1868 when the San Justo Homestead Association purchased the property from William Welles Hollister (1818–1886). Undecided about a name for the new town, an association member, Napa vintner Henry Hagen, was tired of Saint and Spanish names in nearby towns and suggested the name Hollister. The City was incorporated on August 29, 1872. The western portion of San Benito County, including Hollister, was separated from Monterey County in 1874. The county was expanded eastward in 1887 to include portions taken from Merced and Fresno Counties.GeologyHollister is well-known among geologists because it portrays one of the best examples of aseismic creep anywhere in the world. The Calaveras Fault (a branch of the San Andreas Fault system) bisects the city north and south, roughly along Locust Ave. and Powell St. The streets running east/west across the fault have significant visible offsets. The fault runs directly under several houses. Even though they are visibly contorted the houses are still habitable as the owners have reinforced them to withstand the dislocation of their foundations. Although there was extensive damage in the town after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and the governor of California came to visit, this was due to a slip of the San Andreas Fault and was not related to the aseismic creep on the Calaveras Fault.
