Downey

History

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was initially founded on September 8, 1771, near settlements of the Tongva people. It was located in the Whittier Narrows on a bluff overlooking the Rio Hondo, near the modern intersection of San Gabriel Blvd and Lincoln Avenue. After five years, flooding forced the relocation of the mission to its present site in San Gabriel. In 1784, Governor Pedro Fages granted to former soldier Manuel Nieto (1734–1804) the largest of the land concessions made in what was then Alta California, a province of New Spain. Its stretched from the Santa Ana River on the east to the Old San Gabriel River (now the Rio Hondo and Los Angeles River) on the west, and from the mission highway (approximately Whittier Boulevard) on the north to the ocean on the south. Its acreage was slightly reduced later at the insistence of Mission San Gabriel on whose lands it infringed. The Spanish concessions, of which 25 were made in California, were unlike the later Mexican land grants in that title was not transferred but were similar to grazing permits with the title remaining with the Spanish crown. The Rancho Los Nietos passed to Manuel Nieto's four children upon his death and remained intact until 1833 when his heirs petitioned Mexican Governor José Figueroa to partition the property. The northwestern portion of the original rancho, comprising the Downey-Norwalk area, was granted as Rancho Santa Gertrudes to Josefa Cota, the widow of Manuel Nieto's son, Antonio Nieto. At approximately , Santa Gertrudes was itself a sizable rancho and contained the old Nietos homestead, which was a center of social life east of the pueblo of Los Angeles. Dairy was a major industry in Downey. The Central Milk Agency marketed the milk for "seven hundred dairymen whose dairy herds range…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it is water. The cities of South Gate and Bell Gardens are adjacent to the west and northwest, Pico Rivera lies to the northeast, Santa Fe Springs and Norwalk to the east, and Paramount and Bellflower are to the south. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Downey has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated BSk on climate maps. : Commerce : Bell Gardens Pico Rivera : South Gate Santa Fe Springs : South Gate Norwalk : Paramount / Bellflower

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  38,167
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  35,998
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  30,198
• Allen's Hummingbird

  Selasphorus sasin (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  27,923
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  27,008
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  26,221
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  24,922
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  23,902

Largest nearby schools

• Downey High
  High · Downey · 4,063 students · 23.4:1 ratio
• Paramount High
  High · Paramount · 3,737 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• Warren (Earl) High
  High · Downey · 3,437 students · 23.7:1 ratio
• Millikan High
  High · Long Beach · 3,311 students · 24:1 ratio
• Lakewood High
  High · Lakewood · 2,761 students · 22.3:1 ratio
• Mayfair High
  High · Lakewood · 2,578 students · 22.6:1 ratio
• California High
  High · Whittier · 2,504 students · 23.2:1 ratio
• La Serna High
  High · Whittier · 2,410 students · 25.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.56 — 2026-09-13
  27 km SSE of Malibu, CA
• M 2.65 — 2026-09-12
  4 km E of Lennox, CA
• M 3.31 — 2026-09-12
  26 km ESE of Avalon, CA
• M 2.95 — 2026-09-12
  26 km ESE of Avalon, CA
• M 2.54 — 2026-09-12
  26 km ESE of Avalon, CA
• M 2.62 — 2026-09-12
  5 km WNW of Willowbrook, CA