Claremont Movers

The first known inhabitants of the Claremont region were the Tongva-Gabrielino tribe, as evidenced by the discovery of a village on a mesa a few hundred yards northeast of the intersection of Foothill and Indian Hill Boulevards. 1771, as the Spanish period in California began, Mission San Gabriel was founded, stretching from the San Bernardino Mountains to San Pedro Bay. Claremont was part of this vast tract, and many indigenous people (Tongva/Gabrielinos) were employed as shepherds for the padres.

After the missions were secularized by the Mexican government in 1834, most of the land within the city limits became part of the Rancho San Jose, owned by Ricardo Vejar and Don Ygnacio Palomares. Ygnacio’s sister, Maria Barbara, lived with her husband and family in an adobe house in the area now known as Memorial Park. The Tongva-Gabrielinos continued to work for the Spanish settlers until smallpox took a heavy toll on the indigenous population in 1862 and 1873. By 1883, the few remaining Tongva-Gabrielinos had left the area.

Beginning in 1904, there was talk of incorporating as a city. Proponents didn’t want to rely on Los Angeles County for services, while opponents warned the community’s weak tax base would result in bankruptcy in less than a year. Finally, after much debate, an election on the incorporation question was held on September 23, 1907. Nearly 95 percent of Claremont’s 131 eligible voters went to the polls. Incorporation was approved by a vote of 73 to 49, and the city of Claremont was officially incorporated on October 3, 1907.

At the same time, the colleges were growing and expanding, and so was the local citrus industry. Citrus ranches spread out across all the foothill communities. Claremont growers established one of the earliest citrus cooperatives for marketing and shipping citrus fruit, a model that led to the organization of the Sunkist cooperative. At its height, the industry supported four citrus packing houses, an icehouse, and a precooling plant along the railroad tracks in Claremont.