La Verne

History

The area was home to Native Americans. The European history of the area dates back to the 1830s when Ygnacio Palomares and Ricardo Véjar received the Rancho San Jose land grant from Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1837. The land included the present day cities Pomona, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, and La Verne. The adobe that Palomares built in 1837 is still preserved in Pomona as La Casa Primera de Rancho San Jose (The First House). Palomares soon moved a mile or so northeast and constructed the Ygnacio Palomares Adobe. He ensured that a nephew, Jose Dolores Palomares, secured a tract of land a mile west. In the mid-1880s, entrepreneur Isaac W. Lord purchased a tract of Jose Palomares' land and convinced the Santa Fe Railroad company to run its line across towards Los Angeles. Lord had the land surveyed for building lots and in 1887 had a large land sale, naming the new town 'Lordsburg' after himself. He also had a large Lordsburg Hotel constructed, but the land boom was over when it was completed. It sat empty for several years until sold to four members of the German Baptist Brethren Church, who persuaded others of that denomination that it would be an excellent site for a new institution of higher learning. Lordsburg College was founded in 1891. In 1906 the town was incorporated as "La Verne." Residents grew field crops, and then began planting citrus trees, which flourished. Lordsburg became known as the "Heart of the Orange Empire." The city of La Verne flourished as a center of the citrus industry until after World War II, when the citrus industry slowly faded away. Two orange groves are on the grounds of the La Verne Heritage Foundation.

Geography

La Verne is a suburb east of Los Angeles, located in the Pomona Valley below the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains part of the Angeles National Forest, a habitat known to support black bears. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of .

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Glendora High
  High · Glendora · 2,273 students · 25:1 ratio
• Claremont High
  High · Claremont · 2,256 students · 24.8:1 ratio
• Walnut High
  High · Walnut · 2,158 students · 23.2:1 ratio
• West Covina High
  High · West Covina · 1,887 students · 21.4:1 ratio
• Bonita High
  High · La Verne · 1,883 students · 25.8:1 ratio
• Garey High
  High · Pomona · 1,666 students · 22.2:1 ratio
• South Hills High
  High · West Covina · 1,640 students · 24.8:1 ratio
• Diamond Ranch High
  High · Pomona · 1,547 students · 23.4:1 ratio