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Montclair:city on the(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series on Montclair and the formulation of the city's General Plan.)by Ruth KoehlerUntil the past few years, the area on the map known as Montclair had no plan, there was no corporate hand guiding it into existence . *. like Topsy, Montclair just happened.The spot on the map men now call Montclair was just part of a river bed, housing wildlife and perhaps one or two Indian rancheros, when the first white man traversed the area.In 1772 Pedro Fages called attention to this as one of the most strategic food gathering areas of the county.But Montclair just sat here in undisturbed splendor while San Bernardino Asistencia, a branch of the San Gabriel Mission, was established in 1819 in the San Bernardino area.While the future site of a going city waited for the edge of a plow, history went on elsewhere in the area,In 1834 the activities of the San Bernardino Asistencia were terminated, due to the large degree , of secularization and hostile Indian raids.It wasn’t until 1842 that the area got another boost towards civilization. At that time the entire San Bernardino Valley was granted to the Lugos, ushering in the flourishing Mexican rancho period.But in 1851 another short period of history was ushered in, when the Mormons purchased the rancho. This movement too, fizzled in a few years. And the Mormon Colony withdrew.At this point in time, Montclair started to happen,The withdrawal of the Mormon Colony ushered in a new phase, that of farming and mining.rWith the era of major agricultural concerns in the area, Montclair entered. It was then called Monte Vista, This all happened in the 1900 s when orange, lemon and apricot groves began springingup.Slowly things happened to the desertlike river bed, now blooming like the garden of Eden under the careful hands of an ever increasing population.tiges of industry and urban development began to appear as a tenuous thing that the old-timers hoped would go away.But Monte Vista was gaining momentum and was definitely marked on maps as a place with a name. It was the agricultural-residential area just north of the railroad junction with the mysterious nomenclature of Narod.For awhile Narod and Monte Vista vyed for the place in the sun, but Narod eventually faded out as ..a name on the map, and Monte Vista stuck it out,vstill unplanned, but happening faster and faster.As pressures for urban development increased, local agricultural developments were transformed into residential subdivisions.The old timers who had hoped it would go away, watched in horror as hundreds of people began moving into the area. They were horrified to see the mish mash of housing taking up room where huge groves of citrus trees once stood. Even so, it was still considered primarily an agricultural area.iBut the newcomers were equally as horrified that their growing area was classified as agricultural. They wanted to have the advantages of local schools for their children, and fire and police departments to protect their homes.Agriculture in Monte Vista, in the 1950’s, really began taking a back seat. At that time industrial and commercial developments were nearly non-existent.AS more and-more subdivisions sprang up in the Monte Vista area, people began looking around and thinking, **ic’s just a hodge podge of a bedroom city, and other cities are laughing at us That thought made the happening of Montclair happen a little faster. The residents wanted something that was planned and beau-I**— LiIn 1956, the people were successful in getting Monte Vista incorporated, Monte Vista was a city and it was beginning to become a planned area, not just a hodge podge of homes and orange groves Then Monte Vista really started having problems, Planning a* city that had just happened all of its life was no easy cask,A series of events led to one of the most terrific changes the city has ever had to make.Known for a good many years as Monte Vista, the young city suddenly discovered that if it were to continue having progress and growth it must change its name.
Newspaper Details
Montclair Tribune
Montclair, California, US
Thu, Oct 08, 1970
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Los A.
CA, USA 20 Jan 2021
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