Palmdale

History

Palmdale was first inhabited by various tribal pre-Americans. Populated by different groups for an estimated 11,000 years, the Antelope Valley was a trade route for nomadic pre-Americans traveling from what is now Arizona and New Mexico to California's coast. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Palmdale area had been occupied by the Kitanemuk. The Yokuts, Chumash people and Shoshone may have also been present in the area. Spanish soldier Captain Pedro Fages explored the Antelope Valley in 1772. The opening of California to overland travel through the forbearing desert was due to Captain Juan Bautista de Anza and Father Francisco Garcés, a Spanish priest. They led a colonizing expedition, which included 136 settlers, across the Mojave Desert from Mexico to Monterey in 1773. Later in 1776 while exploring the Valley, Garces, with several Indian guides from the San Gabriel Mission, recorded viewing the vast expanse of what was the El Tejon Rancheria (the Badger Ranch) of the Cuabajoy Indians. After the Shoshone Indians left the valley, new immigrants from Spain and Mexico established large cattle ranches there. In the late 1880s, the ranches were divided into smaller homesteads and farmed by settlers from Germany, France and the state of Nebraska. "Palmenthal", the first permanent settlement within the limits of Palmdale, was established as a village on April 20, 1886, by westward Lutheran travelers from the American Midwest, mostly of German and Swiss descent. According to area folklore, the travelers had been told they would know they were close to the ocean when they saw palm trees. They took the local Joshua trees for palms and named their settlement after them. (Palmenthal is German for Palm Valley.) According to David L. Durham, Joshua trees were sometimes called…

Geography

Palmdale is located in Los Angeles County, and the urbanized centers of Palmdale and Los Angeles are separated by the San Gabriel mountain range, which is about wide. This range forms the southern edge of the Antelope Valley portion of the Mojave Desert. Palmdale is the second-most populous city in the Antelope Valley, and fifth overall in the Mojave Desert, after Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Nevada; and Lancaster. Palmdale is part of a twin-city complex with its northern neighbor Lancaster and together they are the principal cities within the Antelope Valley region and California's High Desert. Downtown Palmdale is located at , at an elevation of above sea level. According to the United States Census Bureau the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water (including man-made Lake Palmdale, the most visible and scenic part of the municipal water supply system). The total area is 0.24% water. The city lies in proximity to the San Andreas Fault, making it prone to severe earthquakes. This fault cuts across the Antelope Valley Freeway just north of the Avenue S off-ramp; running westward along the old Butterfield Stage Line (now Elizabeth Lake Road) into Leona Valley. Typical of the High Desert, Palmdale has a desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWk), and it is part of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8b. Winters are cool to mild, with daily normal minimum temperatures at or just below freezing from late November until late January, and the coolest month, December, having a normal mean temperature of . Record temperatures range from on January 13, 1963, to on August 5, 1990. }} Notes: Plants native to Palmdale are big berry manzanita, fremont cottonwood, California aster, White Sage, Giant wildrye, Deerbrush, California…

Race & ethnicity