A Quick Look at the History of San Dimas CaliforniaÂ
The history of San Dimas is long and rich dating back some 8,000 years when Native Americans first occupied the area. The predominant tribe in the area was known as the Tongva. After western expansion and exploration began the area’s native culture began to give way to Mexican and Spanish influence.
As the age of the railroad began to unfold in the late 19th century, streets began cropping up and land in the area that had previously been largely undesirable started to gain value. Spurred on by the increased valuation crated by the railroads, small businesses began to crop up and before long the area adopted its modern name of San Dimas.
As time passed and the city continued to grow, the local economy began to take shape. Like the rest of the region at the time, due to the fertile soil and ideal weather agriculture featured prominently. Among the crops grown however, citrus was the talk of the town. Oranges, lemons and limes were huge components of the areas growth though the mid 20th century. In fact nationally known brand Sunkist owes its name to the region.
A few famous People:
Numerous people of note have roots to San Dimas below is a list of a few plus a brief bio on what makes them famous.
- Shannon Click is an American model that made her name in Vogue magazine was born in San Dimas. In addition to her work with Vogue Click has appeared in multiple Victoria Secret Shows over the last seven years.
- Bill Dwyre a sportswriter with deep roots in the greater Los Angeles area (of which San Dimas is a direct suburb) calls San Dimas home. In a career that now spans four decades with the LA Times, Dwyre has served as sports editor, writer and currently writers multiple columns a week for the paper.
- Adam Wylie is an accomplished actor and voice over artist who was born in San Dimas in 1984. Among his credits include Anger Management General Hospital and CSI Miami.
- Chris Pettit is a former professional baseball player who played for the hometown LA Angels of Anaheim from 2009-2011. He attended San Dimas high school and was the athlete of the year his senior year of 2002. Chris currently plays professionally in Mexico.
In modern times San Dimas is a fairly wealthy city boasting a median household income of roughly $72,000, which is significantly higher than the state average of around $58,000.  The population of San Dimas at last survey was 33,840, which is slightly off from the 2000 population. Like most people in the San Gabriel Valley the population of San Dimas is a commuting bunch. Most workers commit to between 20-40 minutes to and from work each day.
Of course like any other southern California community San Dimas benefits from amazing weather and deals with the unfortunate reality of frequent earthquakes. But hey no place is perfect.