Duarte

History

Around 500 B.C., a band of Shoshonean-speaking Indians established settlements in what is now the San Gabriel Valley. These Native Americans were dubbed the Gabrieliño Indians (after San Gabriel, the local mission) by early Spanish colonial explorers, but now generally prefer to be called the Tongva. Since the San Gabriel Valley area was home to large numbers of oak trees such as coast live oak and interior live oak, a staple of the Tongva diet was an acorn meal made by boiling acorn flour. Duarte's history with Europeans dates back to 1769, when all land in California was claimed by the king of Spain. The first Europeans visited the San Gabriel Valley during a 1769 expedition from San Diego to Monterey Bay commanded by Don Gaspar de Portolà. Accompanying Portolà was a Franciscan priest from Junípero Serra's order in Mexico, Juan Crespí, who served as the diarist of the expedition. Much of what is known of early California is known only from the detailed descriptions recorded by Crespi. On September 8, 1771, the Franciscans established the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel in the San Gabriel Valley. The mission was a resting point for early California travelers and gathered most of the native Tongva into an agricultural lifestyle. Following Mexican independence in 1821, the mission lands were nationalized. On May 10, 1841, the governor of Alta California, Juan Bautista Alvarado, granted to former Mexican corporal Andrés Avelino Duarte and his wife nearly of prime land in the central-northern San Gabriel Valley. Duarte named his new holdings "Rancho Azusa de Duarte". The name Azusa was derived from Asuksa-gna, meaning "skunk place," the name of the Tongva settlement on the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley, on the western side of the alluvial fan where the San Gabriel…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

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
• Glendora High
  High · Glendora · 2,273 students · 25:1 ratio
• West Covina High
  High · West Covina · 1,887 students · 21.4:1 ratio
• Marshall Fundamental
  High · Pasadena · 1,849 students · 25:1 ratio
• Temple City High
  High · Temple City · 1,803 students · 24.4:1 ratio
• Sierra Vista High
  High · Baldwin Park · 1,752 students · 22.8:1 ratio
• Arroyo High
  High · El Monte · 1,742 students · 21.8:1 ratio