History of Claremont
Much of what Claremont is today is the direct result of actions taken by the community's founders more than 100 years ago. Trees planted at the turn of the century now compete with nearby mountain peaks for dominance of the local skyline. The Claremont Colleges have become some of the nation's most highly respected educational and cultural institutions. The historic central core remains a vital residential and retail district, one of the last true "downtowns" in the region. And the spirit of Claremont's original "town meeting" form of self-governance lives on in today's active and involved citizenry—citizens who continue to build on the successes of the past in order to ensure an even brighter future.
The first known inhabitants of the Claremont region were the Tongva-Gabrielino tribe. Since time immemorial, the Tongva/Gabrieleno people were the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar, an area that includes the Los Angeles Basin, South Channel Islands, San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, and portions of Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Tongva/Gabrielino settlement Tooypinga was in the area of Indian Hill and Foothill, near the present-day California Botanical Gardens. The Tongva/Gabrielenos inhabited a village in the area that is now Claremont located below the prominent mountain “Joāt" or "the Snowy Mountain.” The name Joāt refers to Mount San Antonio/Mt. Baldy as the place of snow.
In 1771, as the Spanish period in California began, Mission San Gabriel was founded, stretching from the San Bernardino Mountains to San Pedro Bay. After the missions were secularized by the Mexican government in 1834, most of the land within the present city limits became part of the Rancho San Jose owned by Ricardo Vejar and Don Ygnacio Palomares. Ygnacio's sister, Maria Barbara, lived with her husband and family in an adobe house in the area now known as Memorial Park. The Tongva/Gabrielinos population was greatly diminished in 1962 and 1873 when a smallpox epidemic spread through the population.
Jedediah Smith, the first European man to enter California overland, passed through the Claremont region in 1826. W. T. "Tooch" Martin, the first anglo-European resident of Claremont, filed a claim on 156 acres near Indian Hill Boulevard in 1871. Martin lived by hunting game and keeping bees but eventually moved on as the population grew around him.
The Santa Fe Railroad provided the impetus for the creation of a community named Claremont in January 1887. It was one of about 30 town sites laid out between San Bernardino and Los Angeles in anticipation of a population explosion resulting from the arrival of the railroad. However, the real estate boom was short-lived. Claremont would have become one of a long list of local railroad "ghost towns" if not for the decision of the local land company to transfer its Hotel Claremont and 260 vacant lots to the recently-founded Pomona College in 1888.
The founders of Pomona College wanted to establish a school of "the New England style," and the community that grew up around it also reflected the founders' New England heritage. Even the form of local government they used, the Town Meeting, was brought with them from their hometowns in the East. Both the citizen involvement and the volunteerism on which the town meeting form of government is based continue to be hallmarks of Claremont today.
Beginning in 1904, there was talk of incorporating as a city. Proponents didn't want to rely on Los Angeles County for services, while opponents warned the community's weak tax base would result in bankruptcy in less than a year. Finally, after much debate, an election on the incorporation question was held on September 23, 1907. Nearly 95 percent of Claremont's 131 eligible voters went to the polls. Incorporation was approved by a vote of 73 to 49, and the City of Claremont was officially incorporated on October 3, 1907.
At the same time the colleges were growing and expanding, so was the local citrus industry. Citrus ranches spread out across all the foothill communities. Claremont growers established one of the earliest citrus cooperatives for marketing and shipping citrus fruit, a model that led to the organization of the Sunkist cooperative. At its height, the industry supported four citrus packing houses, an ice house, and a precooling plant along the railroad tracks in Claremont.
Labor for the citrus industry was predominately provided by Mexican-Americans, often new arrivals from Mexico. Men served as pickers while women worked in the packing houses. By 1920, two Mexican-American neighborhoods had developed in Claremont: one in the area of El Barrio Park and the other near the packing houses west of Indian Hill Boulevard and north of the railroad. In addition to supporting the thriving citrus industry, Mexican labor contributed greatly to the early construction of the Claremont Colleges, including skilled crafting of many stone structures and ornamental features.
Citrus continued to flourish in the area until after the Second World War. That's when the pressure for residential development caused many growers to sell their land for housing tracts. The opening of the San Bernardino Freeway in 1954 also made it much easier for people not associated with citrus or the Colleges to live in Claremont. The city, which covered about 3.5 square miles at its incorporation in 1907, now covers more than 13 square miles with a population of over 34,000 residents.
The early Spanish, college, and citrus industry influences can still be seen in the community today. There are lush remnants of citrus and oak groves and a physical character reminiscent of Claremont's Spanish heritage and college-town influence. Claremont has many fine representatives of various architectural periods, particularly Victorian, neo-Classical Revival, Craftsman, and Spanish Colonial Revival. This diversity, sense of scale, and continuity singles it out as a unique community in Southern California
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City Logo History
Gabrielino/Tongva
The Gabrielino/Tongva people are, in many ways, among the most interesting of native California peoples. The Gabrielino/Tongva occupied lands considered the most desirable sections of Southern California. This territory included the coastal lands, present-day Los Angeles and Orange County, and portions of present-day San Bernardino County. In the interior mountains and foothills, Gabrielino/Tongva settlement-patterns indicate the existence of both primary subsistence villages occupied continuously, and smaller secondary gathering camps occupied at various times during the year, depending upon season and resource. (Bean and Smith, 539) Settlements in the inland areas, including present-day Claremont, were situated near watercourses and artesian wells.
The Gabrielino/Tongva were among the wealthiest, most populous, and most influential native groups in Southern California. Gabrielino/Tongva trade and influence spread as far north as the San Joaquin Valley Yokuts, as far east as the Colorado River, and as far as the southern territories of the Kumeyaay. Intra- and intergroup exchange was frequent. People and trade goods flowed freely and often for long distances. The Gabrielino/Tongva traded with bordering groups, including the Serranos, Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Chumash, and Mohave. Gabrielino/Tongva trade items appeared as far as central Arizona. (Bean and Smith, 547) An important trade item, among the Gabrielino/Tongva and for export to other groups, was steatite or soapstone. The Gabrielino/Tongva traded steatite with many bordering groups, including the Chumash, Yokuts, Ipai-Tipai, Luiseño, Serrano, and via the Chumash to the distant Tubatulabal.
As with trade, intra- and intercultural relationships were common. The Gabrielino/Tongva intermarried with the Yokuts, Chumash, Serrano, and Luiseño and developed close relationships with these surrounding groups. (Bean and Smith, 547) Nearly 100 villages existed prior to Spanish settlement. Population estimates of the Gabrielino/Tongva prior to missionization are based on village approximations by Juan Crespí (1721 – 1782). Crespí estimated that 50 to 100 persons inhabited each mainland village at the time of contact with Europeans. Other early Spanish reports indicate a range of per village population. However, Gabrielino/Tongva populations were likely already impacted by introduced European diseases resulting from contact with Spanish explorers in the mid-16th century.
In 1771 Mission San Gabriel was established, one of two missions to which Spanish missionaries forcibly moved the majority of the Gabrielino/Tongva living in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys. Missionization was an era of dramatic social and economic change, and continued exposure to European diseases. Gabrielino/Tongva populations dwindled due to introduced diseases, dietary deficiencies, and forced labor. At times, the Gabrielino/Tongva violently resisted Spanish rule, such as the 1785 rebellion led by the female chief Toypurina.
During the 19th century, the Gabrielino/Tongva experienced rapid political and economic change. In 1821 Mexico gained its independence from the Spanish Empire, and the Mexican government sold mission lands to ranchers. In 1837 Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado gave a 22,340-acre land grant to Ygnacio Palomares and Ricardo Vejar, which they named Rancho San Jose. (Ogden) The present-day community of Claremont was located entirely within Rancho San Jose. In 1840, the Palomares, Vejar, and Luis Arenas, petitioned Governor Alvarado for additional grazing lands and received one square league addition, known as the Rancho San Jose Addition. As a result, the Gabrielino/Tongva shifted their labor practices to the California ranchos. Native rancherias continued to occupy the newly established Rancho San Jose boundaries. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Tongva settlement Tooypinga was in the area of Indian Hill and Foothill, near the present-day California Botanical Gardens. (McCawley 48 and Johnson 144-5) The rancheria of Tsikowale was in San Antonio Canyon (McCawley 48). Following the Treaty of Guadalupe of 1848, the California Land Act of 1851 required that holders of Spanish and Mexican land grants prove the validity of their ownership to the Public Land Commission. A claim for Rancho San Jose was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and granted to Henry Dalton, Palomares, and Vejar in 1875. However, in 1865 the widow of Ygnacio Palomares had already begun to sell portions of the ranch land. In the early 1860s, the area experienced a flood, followed by several years of severe drought that profoundly affected herd populations and undermined the economy of the Rancho. Additionally, a smallpox epidemic spread throughout Rancho San Jose. The Gabrielino/Tongva of Claremont witnessed the demise of Rancho San Jose as the land was repeatedly sold, the rise and fall of the San Gabriel Valley's extensive citrus industry, and successive land booms and busts.
During this period of economic turmoil, the Gabrielino/Tongva continued to adapt to the changing economy. Throughout, the Gabrielino/Tongva continuously worked for state and national recognition. From 1851 to 1853, U.S. Government Treaty commissioners signed 18 treaties that recognized the Gabrielino/Tongva. But these were never ratified by the U.S. Senate and were considered "lost." The 18 treaties were discovered in 1905, initiating a series of efforts to address the unceded lands of the Tongva. These efforts included the California Jurisdiction Act of 1928 that authorized the California Attorney General to represent the Tongva before the U.S. Court of Claims and the termination of 53 Native rancherias as part of the assimilation policies the 1950s. However, in 1994, the State of California officially recognized the Gabrielino/Tongva Tribe. On August 31, 1994, the state of California passed Bill AJR 96 which, in part, recognized the Gabrielino as "the aboriginal tribe of the Los Angeles Basin," recognized the entire Los Angeles Basin area and the Channel Islands ... as traditional Gabrielino/Tongva territory, and "respectfully memorializes the President and Congress of the United States to likewise give recognition to the Gabrielinos as the ancestral tribe of the Los Angeles Basin." (ca.gov)