Arcadia

History

For over 8,000 years, the site of Arcadia was part of the homeland of the Tongva people ("Gabrieleño" tribe), a Californian Native American tribe whose territory spanned the greater Los Angeles Basin, and the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys. Their fluid borders stretched between the Santa Susana Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, and San Gabriel Mountains in the north; the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills in the west; the San Jacinto Mountains and Santa Ana Mountains in the east; and the coast and Catalina Island (Pimu) in the south. A Tongva settlement site within present-day Arcadia was known as Alyeupkigna (or Aluupkenga). The town's site became part of the Spanish Mission San Gabriel Arcángel lands in 1771. After Indian Reductions to become Mission Indians, the Tongva were known as the Gabrieleños, after the name of the Mission under whose control they worked during the mission period in California. Currently there are 1,700 people self-identifying as members of the Tongva or Gabrieleño tribe. The Mexican land grant for Rancho Santa Anita was issued to Perfecto Hugo Reid and his Tongva wife, Victoria Bartolomea Comicrabit, in 1845. It was named after a family relation, Anita Cota, on his wife's side. Reid documented the Gabrieleño Native Americans in a series of letters written in 1852, and served as a delegate to the 1849 California Constitutional Convention. In 1847, Reid sold Rancho Santa Anita to his Rancho Azusa neighbor, Henry Dalton. The rancho changed owners several times before being acquired by Gold Rush immigrant, businessman, and major regional land owner Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin in 1875. Baldwin purchased of Rancho Santa Anita for $200,000. Upon seeing the area, he gasped "By Gads! This is paradise!" Upon buying the land, Baldwin…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it (1.87%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  55,535
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  49,480
• California Towhee

  Melozone crissalis (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  44,984
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  42,318
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  39,615
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  38,513
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  37,829
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  36,324

Largest nearby schools

• Arcadia High
  High · Arcadia · 3,022 students · 25:1 ratio
• Options For Youth - Duarte Inc
  High · City Of Industry · 2,354 students · 28:1 ratio
• Schurr High
  High · Montebello · 2,224 students · 20.2:1 ratio
• Mark Keppel High
  High · Alhambra · 2,205 students · 26.3:1 ratio
• Alhambra High
  High · Alhambra · 2,160 students · 22.7:1 ratio
• Eagle Rock High
  High · Los Angeles · 2,069 students · 19.9:1 ratio
• Montebello High
  High · Montebello · 2,054 students · 19.9:1 ratio
• La Canada High
  High · La Canada · 1,993 students · 24.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.82 — 2026-06-09
  7 km SE of Loma Linda, CA
• M 3.18 — 2026-06-09
  7 km SE of Loma Linda, CA
• M 3.43 — 2026-06-06
  15 km NW of Fillmore, CA
• M 2.93 — 2026-05-26
  8 km S of Malibu Beach, CA
• M 2.66 — 2026-05-19
  4 km W of Manhattan Beach, CA
• M 3.29 — 2026-05-09
  1 km SE of Muscoy, CA