Sierra Madre is historically linked to the old mountain resorts of the San Gabriel Mountains and Valley. The Sierra Madre Villa Hotel was a pioneer of summer resorts that populated the San Gabriel Valley in the late-19th century.[4] The municipality also operates and maintains the landmark Lizzie's Trail inn at the head of Old Mount Wilson Trail.[4]
File:SierraMadreVillaHotel-1884.jpgThe Sierra Madre Villa Hotel, 1884.
Timeline
Roughly 500 A.D. Tongva Indians, the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin, including the San Gabriel Valley, arrive from the Mojave area. Their name has been translated to mean “People of the Earth”. Their main language is a Uto-Aztecan Shoshonean tongue, displaying roots in the Aztec empire and ancient Mexico.
In 1500 about 25 Tongva villages exist in will later become Los Angeles County. The population was approximately 400 people.
By 1769, the first Spanish settlers arrive in the region, encountering an estimated 5,000 Tongva living in 31 villages. Two years later, Mission San Gabriel Arcangel is founded in modern-day Montebello, causing the Tongva communities to rapidly dwindle. Many Tongvas were assimilated into mission culture, and the tribe became known as Gabrielino Indians.
In 1864, Benjamin Don Benito Wilson builds the Mount Wilson Trail with the aid of Mexican and Chinese laborers. Nathaniel Carter purchases the original 1103 acres that comprise Sierra Madre in 1881; 845 from “Lucky Baldwin"; 108 from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company; and 150 from Levi Richardson.
1888 Santa Anita railroad station is built and the Episcopalian Church of the Ascension is rebuilt after original building was destroyed by a windstorm the year before. It was registered as a National Landmark in 1971.
1905 Jewish families in Sierra Madre form the Temple Beth Israel, later to become the Foothill Jewish Community Center.
January 1, 1906 Pacific Electric Railway begins Red Car passenger service to Sierra Madre..
October 1906 First electric lights in Sierra Madre are installed by Edison Electric Company.
December 1906 First telephones are installed – 250 of them – by the Home Telephone Company of Monrovia.
February 2, 1907 First citywide election held; citizens vote 71-25 to officially incorporate Sierra Madre, population 500.
February 20, 1907 Sierra Madre becomes incorporated as a California city. Charles Worthington Jones serves as first mayor.
1908 First Mt. Wilson Trail Race. (The race was discontinued during WWII and reestablished in 1966.)
1910 Construction of the first chapel of St. Rita’s parish, founded by Father Barth in 1908, is completed. 1922 St. Rita’s Catholic Church parochial school opens.
January 1, 1917 Sierra Madre makes its first entry in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade.
1920s & 1930's
1920 First general hospital opened on N. Baldwin by Dr. George Groth and Dr. Mary Groth.
January 1, 1922 Dedication of Bethany Temple, the domed cobblestone church designed and built by nearly-blind Louis D. Corneulle.
The new Congregational Church structure is completed at 170 W. Sierra Madre Ave. The Romanesque Revival building was designed by Marsh, Smith, & Powell.
1914 After a long legal battle, the city acquires title to all water rights, lands, and distributing systems of the Baldwin Estate and the Sierra Madre Water Company
1921 A disastrous bakery fire at Windsor Lane and Montecito Court prompts the official organization of the Sierra Madre Volunteer Fire Department.
1928 Gordon MacMillan inaugurated as first Chief of Police, beginning the city’s police system as we know it today.
July 1929 Sierra Madre Canyon Pool opens. Built by the City with special area taxes, the pool held approximately 175,000 gallons of cold water..
1931 Mater Dolorosa Monastery’s first permanent structure is built.
April 21, 1931 First meeting of the Sierra Madre Historical Society takes place, in conjunction with the City’s fiftieth anniversary celebration.
January 8, 1936 A City ordinance officially changes the name of Central Avenue to Sierra Madre Blvd.
1938 Flood!
1939 City purchases 760 acres of land in San Gabriel Mountains near Orchard Camp to avoid contamination of water supply.
1940s & 1950's
May 14, 1942 The whole of Sierra Madre’s Japanese population is required to depart for the assembly center at Tulare.
January 13, 1949 Heaviest recorded local snowfall blankets Sierra Madre, covering the town with 3-4 inches overnight.
October 6, 1950 Last Pacific Electric train leaves from Sierra Madre.
1951 Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team was established by Larry Shepherd and Fred LaLone
1952 First Aqua Fair in Sierra Madre Canyon Pool.
1954 Sierra Madre Rose Float Association is founded.
Floods and mudslides tear through Sierra Madre Canyon, damaging hundreds of homes and businesses and depositing up to 8 feet of silt on city streets.
1955 New library facility is constructed, replacing original structure.
1960s
1961 Sierra Madre joins the Pasadena Unified School District.
1966 Temple Beth Israel closes its Sierra Madre site and joins with the Foothill Jewish Temple-Center, Arcadia.
1967 Sierra Madre becomes the first city in Southern California to own a wilderness preserve.
1967 Princess Margaret visits the British Home.
1969 The Cultural Heritage Committee is established by the Sierra Madre City Council for the purpose of “defining cultural and aesthetic landmarks throughout the City of Sierra Madre and to recommend how such landmarks be preserved.”
1969 City purchases the Woman’s Clubhouse to serve as the site of a new City Hall building. The Clubhouse site is cleared October 15, 1973.
1970s
January 1971 Sierra Madre Environmental Action Council is formed.
October 27, 1974 Dedication of Bell Tower in Kersting Court. The bell tower houses the school bell from the 1885 schoolhouse.
1976 Sierra Madre Vistas is published by the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society.
March 19, 1976 Bicentennial time capsule is buried beneath flagpole at the new Fire and Police Department Facility, dedicated on May 8. 1976.
1977 New City Hall building dedicated at 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd..
1980s and 1990s
1981 Sierra Madre celebrates the centennial of its founding, complete with a Centennial Royal Court and dance, a special Historical Society dinner, and rides on a Pacific Electric red car brought back to town Independence Day weekend.
February 28, 1983 Queen Elizabeth visits the British Home and greets every resident.
June 28, 1991 At 7:43 a.m., Sierra Madre is the epicenter of a 6.0 earthquake.
April 24, 1999 The Weeping Wall Veterans’ Memorial, designed by Lew Watanabe, is dedicated in Memorial Park.
2000s
Groundbreaking ceremony for the Senior Housing Project on Esperanza Avenue. The affordable housing project includes 46 units designed by PBWS Architects and developed by the Foundation for Quality Housing. 2003
October 11, 2003 Veterans’ Photo Wall, spearheaded by John Grijalva, is dedicated in Memorial Park.
2007 Sierra Madre celebrates the centennial of its incorporation as a California City. The planning committee plans events throughout the year ranging from a gala ball at Alverno Villa to a community picnic at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center.
Sierra Madre wins All-America City Award. The prestigious award is given by the National Civic League.
October 2007 The refurbished World War I cannon in Memorial Park dedicated.
March 26, 2008: Goldberg Park, located at 171 South Sunnyside, is dedicated. It is the City’s first new park in over thirty years.
June 2008 Mt. Wilson Trail Race centennial celebration. The race had been postponed due to fire damage to the trail.
2009 The Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society publishes Southern California Story: Seeking the Better Life in Sierra Madre by Michele Zack.
Historical films
1910 New York filmmaker D. W. Griffith, of the American Biograph Moving Picture Co., begins producing motion pictures in town, using townspeople as extras.
1941 The Great Man’s Lady is filmed at the Pinney House, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, and Brian Donlevy
1956 The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is filmed in town, starring Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, and Larry Gates. 1956 Cobblestone Church demolished to make way for Bethany’s new edifice.
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1954 Eddy Foy and the Seven Little Foys is filmed at the Pinney House, starring Bob Hope and Milly Vitale.
1976 Alfred Hitchcock films segments of A Family Plot in Sierra Madre Pioneer Cemetery.
Wisteria Vine
In 1894, the now-famous wistaria vine was purchased by Mrs. Brugman from a nursery in Monrovia, for seventy-five cents .
April 1911 First Flower Festival, sponsored annually by the Woman’s Club until they began organizing the Wistaria Fete in the 1920s. 1918 Wistaria grounds open for public viewing. First Wistaria Fete sponsored by the Sierra Madre Chapter of the American Red Cross.
The town is also home to the only remaining volunteer fire department in the Greater Los Angeles area and has no traffic signals within its town limits.[7] With the appointment of former Pasadena Police Department Cmdr. Marilyn Diaz as Police Chief on March 14, 2006, the Sierra Madre Police Department became the first municipal police department in Los Angeles County to have a female Chief.[8] As reported by KCAL television in 2006, there are currently 17 sworn members of the Sierra Madre Police Department.
2001 Plaque honoring fallen firefighters from 9/11 is installed in front of Fire Station in October.
July 2003 MTA begins operation of the Gold line from Union Station to Sierra Madre Villa. Sierra Madre expanded local transit service as part of the new operation.
March 2005 Marilyn Diaz is named Sierra Madre Chief of Police, the first female police chief in Los Angeles County.
June 2007 Paramedic service begins. It is funded by the sale of an unused fire station in the canyon. Sierra Madre is the last city in Los Angeles County to provide paramedic service to its residents.
Sierra Madre is known for its annual Wistaria Festival (an alternative spelling of Wisteria), which celebrates its 114-year-old, 1+-acre Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) vine.[9] The plant was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest blooming plant and one of the seven horticultural wonders of the world.[10] The annual festival is the one day a year the 115-year-old vine on private property can be viewed.[11][12]
Downtown Sierra Madre has small restaurants and shops. There is also a historic company that makes gourmet and specialty olives, jams, jellies, and syrups (sold to the public) from its own citrus groves. The company, E. Waldo Ward and Son, was founded over 120 years ago, when most of Sierra Madre was mainly agricultural in its zoning; the first Sevilla orange trees in the U.S. were planted on the grounds (now, due to re-zoning, the original trees are on private property, however the Ward family still owns 3 acres (12,000 m2) of oranges at 273 E. Highland Ave. as well as having a barn.)
Sierra Madre hosts a 4th of July Parade each year.
In the northern and northeastern portions of the city are the Lower and Upper Sierra Madre Canyons. These small communities are noted for their narrow and winding roads, lush vegetation, views of the San Gabriel Valley, and small bungalows or cabins.
Mater Dolorosa Monastery
1949 New retreat house is built and dedicated at Mater Dolorosa Monastery.
In the foothills of Sierra Madre is an 80-acre retreat with a bubbling fountain and verdant gardens. It is a place where, for almost a century, Roman Catholic monks have sought tranquillity--and where Rose Bowl-bound football teams have sought a good night's sleep away from the temptations of the city.
The Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center ( Mater Dolorosa means "Mother of Sorrows") has provided an environment of peace for monks as well as Methodists, Presbyterians and even movie crews.[13]
Shortly before the Rose Bowl game in 1958, Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes started looking for a place to sequester his team from the wicked temptations of Los Angeles. The Mater Dolorosa monastery in Sierra Madre offered secluded serenity, along with a small company of black-robed friars to make sure the team didn't get into any mischief. The Buckeyes won the game. [14] Other team coaches have followed suit. Bobby Bell, a Minnesota linebacker, remembered the team bus pulling into the monastery one late night, with only the headlights and police escort lights shining against the religious statues. He remarked to his coach: "You don't have to worry about bed-check tonight, Coach."[14]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 7.8 km² (3.0 mi²). 7.8 km² (3.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.33% is water.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 10,578 people, 4,756 households, and 2,739 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,361.4/km² (3,522.9/mi²). There were 4,923 housing units at an average density of 633.6/km² (1,639.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 85.81% White, 1.14% African American, 0.35% Native American, 5.60% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 3.02% from other races, and 3.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.96% of the population.
There were 4,756 households out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.4% were non-families. 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.87.
In the town the population was spread out with 18.9% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 29.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 89.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $65,900, and the median income for a family was $79,588. Males had a median income of $61,635 versus $42,527 for females. The per capita income for the town was $41,104. About 1.9% of families and 3.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.2% of those under age 18 and 1.7% of those age 65 or over.
^"now the largest blossoming plant in the world, Sierra Madre's 250-ton wistaria vine fit in a one-gallon can when it was purchased for 75 cents at Monrovia nursery in 194." March/April 2009 page 52 AAA Westways magazine
United States
California
