San Dimas, California

The story of immigration to California cities and towns is one filled with fascination and imagination. Families and individuals were bound and determined to brave the elements and a multitude of other factors, considering their final destination as the promised land; the land which would bring them fortune, and quite possibly, fame. The city of San Dimas is no exception to this tale, for it is a city rich with history, a study in migration that supports the dreamer's dream. The motto of San Dimas is “Pioneering a New Era,” and those who eventually settled in San Dimas witnessed firsthand the offerings of this subtle town nestled in the San Gabriel Valley, and thus became true pioneers. During the land boom years of the 1880s, San Dimas experienced remarkable growth, with a focus on agricultural products that would lead to its legacy as a boom city that remains in place today.

[Page 581]Prior to and immediately following the Civil War, the state of California experienced a series of terrible floods followed by a period of significant drought. This resulted in a tremendous loss of cattle and horses, essentially dooming the owners of many ranchos in southern California. Due to exorbitant mortgages and massive debt, rancho owners, or dons, could not afford to keep their land and thus ended up splitting or subdividing massive amounts of territory. It is at this time that southern California entered its boom years, as the dream of the pioneer was on its way to becoming a reality.

In 1887, the city of San Dimas was created by the San Jose Land Company along the Santa Fe Railroad, which continued to put down its tracks and expand to the Pacific Ocean. At the time, a handful of small farmers had already begun to extract a living out of the soil, and more were to come. As the land boom in southern California began to explode, the small city experienced remarkable growth as midwestern excursion trains brought buyers to the area for $1 per one-way trip. As speculation ran rampant, many prospective investors were able to get in on the boom, while many others were left to toil in the bust. To accommodate the throng of people infiltrating southern California, railroads built a hotel in each of the small towns from San Bernardino to Pasadena, providing a brief respite from the stresses of cross-country travel.

In the first two operative years of the town, people flocked to the small enclave at the base of the San Jose Mountains and began to prepare for an extended stay, and perhaps even a permanent residence. In 1889, the San Dimas Hotel was purchased by the J. W. Walker family for use as a railroad hotel, and it is still standing today. Presently known as the San Dimas Mansion, it serves as a restaurant and plans exist to expand its services in the near future.

As pioneers inundated the area, wheat and corn were planted first, enabling settlers to extract a base level of subsistence support while working toward establishing the community. After the midwestern crops took hold in the valley, orange and lemon groves soon followed, and would eventually become the staple crop at the base of the San Jose Mountains. In the immediate area of San Dimas, four citrus packing facilities and a marmalade factory were built, which would eventually give rise to the Sunkist brand name. Citrus crops proved to be a much better fit for the San Gabriel Valley as heat and heavy winds had a tendency to dry out hay and grain. In 1889, Robert M. Teague started a small citrus seedling nursery in the San Dimas Wash, and in 10 years he was cultivating upward of 700,000 seedling trees; this was said to be the largest citrus nursery in the world. By 1890, the San Dimas area boasted more than 250,000 mature trees in cultivation.

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