Monterey Park, California

The History of Monterey Park dates back to the time before America was settled and the Native Tongva tribe lived. Years after the Spanish settled, industry came into the area. 

Monterey Park, including Alessandro Repetto, an Italian immigrant who came to own 5,000 acres of town property & Richard Garvey, who built a dam and began using city-land/nearby water to develop various crops.

In 1850, California became a state in the union. 

Neighboring cities Alhambra, Pasadena, and South Pasadena grew alongside Monterey Park and began to even eclipse it. In 1916, these other three communities having already been incorporated for several years, Monterey Park hastened to do the same, as its surrounding towns wished to use its unincorporated status as clearance to build a sewage treatment facility within the immediate area. Local residents near-unanimously voted to incorporate with haste, and the newly formed municipal government immediately voted to ban sewage plants within city limits.

The city also welcomed growth from immigrants, to increasing extents throughout the 20th century, predominantly from Asian nations. In fact, Chinese residents were the ethnic majority for multiple decades leading up to the new millennium, although that demographic landscape has become more multiculturally nuanced in recent years.

Post-World War II, farming has given way to a modern, commercial Monterey Park landscape.