Temecula, California
From Freepedia
Temecula is a city located in Riverside County, California. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 57,716. The current population as of July 2005 has skyrocketed to appx. 90,000. It was incorporated on December 1, 1989.
Temecula is bordered by Murrieta on the northwest and the Pechanga Indian Reservation on the east, with unincorporated areas of Riverside County on all of its other borders. It is served by the Temecula Valley Freeway.
With neighboring Murrieta, Temecula forms the southern anchor of the Inland Empire region. However, it is somewhat closer to San Diego than to Los Angeles, and many consider it a suburb (or at least an exurb) of the former.
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Temecula's Population History
*Population figures taken prior to incorporation
History
Pre-1800
The area was inhabited by the Temecula native people for many hundreds of years before their first meeting with the Spanish missionaries (the people are now generally known as the "Luiseños", after the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia), but they lost an estimated 40% of their population due to introduced epidemics in the last few years of the 18th century. [1]
The name Temecula comes from the Luiseño word Temecunga - roughly, "place of the sun". It was the Spanish who transcribed the word as "Temecula". According to the city website, "Temecula is the only city in California to still retain its original Indian name".
The first recorded Spanish visit, in October of 1797, was that of Franciscan padre, Father Juan Norberto de Santiago, who was searching for a new mission site. He visited what is now Lake Elsinore, and eventually visited much of the rest of the Temecula Valley.
1800-1900
Little is known about Temecula during the early 1800’s because so many records were destroyed in the fire that followed the great San Francisco earthquake in 1906.
In the 1820s, the Mission San Antonio de Pala was built, and a serious attempt to Christianize the local natives was begun.
In 1845, during the disintegration of Mexico's hold on California, the Temecula Ranch was granted to Felix Valdez. The Luiseño and Cahuilla tribes were involved, rather bloodily, in the local battles of the Mexican-American War during the following years.
One of the most often told stories of Temecula’s early days is of the Massacre in a nearby canyon that took place in January, 1847. The canyon is just below the present site of the Vail Lake Dam and was the scene of the bloodiest battle of the Mexican War. Excited by the fighting taking place around them, the Temecula Indians decided to do a little warring on their own. They captured 11 Mexican soldiers whom they later executed at a place now known as Warner Springs. A Mexican contingency was soon dispatched to run them down and avenge the deaths.
The Temeculans, who were now on the run, went into the canyon hoping to ambush their pursuers. The tables were turned on them, by the Mexicans who enlisted the aid of the nearby Cahuilla Indians, who had been itching to settle the score with the Temeculans over some previous skirmishes between the two tribes.
The Mexicans, feigning weariness and illness, lured the Temeculans out of the canyon and into the hands of the Cahuillas who promptly slaughtered them. Several days later the dead Temeculans were buried in a common grave, the mound of which is still visible from Highway 79.
As white American settlers began to move into California in the aftermath of the war, friction with the native tribes increased. At last a "Treaty with the San Louis Rey, Etc., 1852.", negotiated in good faith by both sides, was signed in the Magee Store in Temecula in 1852. Unfortunately, it was never ratified by the American Congress. [2]
Temecula had its share of experiences with desperadoes. Early in 1857, Juan Flores, the leader of a gang of outlaws, killed a storekeeper in San Juan Capistrano and then again in Temecula. With the help of Manuelito Chapalac, he hid out near Santiago Peak where he and his remaining followers, who by that time had also killed the Los Angeles County Sheriff, were captured by posses from El Monte and San Diego. He later escaped, triggering the greatest manhunt ever conducted in California. Flores was finally recaptured in Simi Pass north of Los Angeles. On February 21, 1857, the Los Angeles jailer surrendered him to a mob and he was hanged on a street of the town.
On the night of September 18, 1858, the first of the Butterfield Overland stagecoach line, which was to run between St. Louis and San Francisco, pulled up in front of the Magee Store. A previous stage line had started running between the trading post on Warner Ranch and Colton and the first stage to ever enter the Temecula Valley arrived from Warner Ranch on October 27, 1857. With the arrival of the stages also came the beginning of change in the Valley. Stagecoaches were synonymous with holdups and sure enough a stage was held up and robbed near Temecula. The stage driver was slain when he refused to give up the strong box.
The stages brought new settlers to the area and mail became an important link with the rest of the country. On April 22, 1859, the first inland Southern California post office was established in Temecula in the Magee Store.
This was the second post office in the state, the first being located in San Francisco. The Temecula post office was destined for a number of moves over the ensuing years; its present locations are the seventh and eighth sites it has occupied.
While the United States mail delivery in Temecula was being transformed from stagecoaches to military couriers and from saddle pouches to wagons, other phases of history were also transpiring. Born of discontent bred by the Civil War, in the late 1860’s, a great migration reached Temecula Valley. It was also during this period that the historic Mormon March, the longest military march in U.S. history, passed through Temecula on the way to San Diego.
The Civil War put an end to the great Butterfield Overland Stage Service and transportation once again became a problem.
In 1882, the Pechanga Indian Reservation of approximately 4,000 acres (16 km²) was formed by executive order and formally created some eight miles from downtown Temecula.
On January 23, 1882, a rail line from National City to Temecula was completed and the valley’s silence was broken by the whistle of a locomotive. Regular service was started between National City and Temecula two months later and local residents had good access to San Diego. A minor business boom began in Temecula with the advent of rail service and several new stores were built and started to garner trade. In 1883 the line was extended to San Bernardino. In the late 1880’s, a series of floods washed out the tracks and the railroad was finally abandoned. The old Temecula station wound up as a barn and was later demolished.
American writer Helen Hunt Jackson visited Temecula in 1882–83, and much of the action of her best-known novel, Ramona, takes place in and around the Temecula Valley.
The stone age was revived in the 1890’s with the operation of granite stone quarries. Temecula granite was shaped into fence and hitching posts, curb stones, courthouse steps, and building blocks. Many of the fence posts and curb stones can still be seen in Temecula, Riverside, and San Francisco.
At the turn of the century Temecula gained a place of importance as a shipping point for grain and cattle. During this period the cowboys ruled the roost and the great cattle drives from the back country took place. Temecula had become a cow town.
1900-1989
In 1904 Walter L. Vail, who had come to the United States with his parents from Nova Scotia, migrated to California and with various partners began buying vast areas of land in Southern California. Vail was already a cattle rancher on a grand scale before he started buying ranch land in the Temecula Valley in 1905, buying large tracts beginning with 38,000 acres (154 km²) of Temecula and Pauba Ranchos, along with the northern half of the Little Temecula Ranch. Vail was run over and killed by a street car in Los Angeles in 1906; his son, Mahlon Vail, took over the family ranch.
In 1914, financed by Mahlon Vail and local ranchers, the First National Bank of Temecula opened on Front Street.
In 1915, the first paved, two-lane county road was built through Temecula.
Temecula had its share of excitement in the late 1920’s and 30’s. There were murders, a bank robbery, a flood, and visits by Hollywood celebrities. Prize fighters Jack Dempsey and Jack Sharkey worked out in a makeshift ring on the second floor of the old Welty building at Front and Main Streets over the Blind Pig Saloon and some moon-shining was conducted in the surrounding hills.
By 1947, the Vail Ranch contained just over 87,500 acres (354 km²). For years the Vail family had dreamed of building a dam to catch the Temecula Creek water which ran its course to the Pacific Ocean. In 1948, at a cost of more than $1 million, the dam was completed and created Vail Lake.
Through the mid-1960's the economy of the Temecula Valley centered around the Vail Ranch; the cattle business and agriculture were the stimuli for most business ventures. During that period, the clientele of the Swing Inn, the Long Branch Saloon and the Stables Bar seemed to be confined to ranchers, cowboys, and [[Indians[[. While the Old West lifestyle continued here, the outside world was evolving dramatically.
On December 4, 1964, the Vail Ranch was sold to Kaiser Development Company and launched the transformation of the Temecula Valley. A later purchase by the group brought the total area to 97,500 acres (395 km²) – a spread of land two and a half times the size of the city and county of San Francisco.
The last years of the 1960's and early 70's witnessed the beginnings of dramatic change in the Temecula Valley. Engineers, contractors, heavy-equipment operators and real estate agents quickly edged out the cowboys and Indians as the main customers at the local establishments. Pickup trucks towing horse trailers, trucks hauling cattle and tractors rigged with farm implements were replaced by cement mixers, lumber trucks and industrial grading equipment. Sales activity switched from cattle, hay and grain to subdivided real estate land.
The Kaiser Land Development Company marketed the valley's attractions actively. Soon, the area became known as Rancho California. Many land sales were accomplished by means of limited partnership syndications, which helped to spread awareness of the area.
One side effect of this high-profile development was a second tier real estate boom in land suitable for avocado groves and grape vineyards on the east side of the valley. The value of plantable land skyrocketed.
The late '70s brought changes to some of the original Old West sites. The Long Branch Saloon was converted into a meeting house, while the Stables Bar became the site for retail stores. Although the Swing Inn remains, new restaurants began to open.
The I-15 corridor between Los Angeles County and San Diego was completed in the early 1980's and the subdivision land boom began. When Rancho California incorporated in December, 1989, the citizens voted to officially name their city "Temecula".
1990-Present
The 1990s brought rapid growth to the Temecula Valley. Many families began to move to the area from San Diego and Orange County drawn by the affordable housing prices. However, as the years have progressed, the housing has become more expensive and the area has become primarily middle to upper-middle class.
In 1999, The Promenade Mall opened in Temecula on land that had once been used for farming and grazing. The mall made Temecula a regional center for shopping and dining.
In 2005, Temecula expanded by annexing the neighboring planned community known as Redhawk. The annexation brought the rapidly growing population to 90,000.
Wineries
Temecula is the site of one of the oldest wineries in California, and the Temecula Valley continues to be a small but significant wine production center, supporting nineteen wineries as of 2004. Its wines are generally less known than those from better-known California wine districts such as Santa Ynez and the Napa Valley.
- Baily Vineyard & Winery
- Bella Vista Cilurzo Vineyard & Winery
- Callaway Vineyard & Winery
- Churon Winery
- Falkner Winery
- Filsinger Vineyards & Winery
- Hart Winery
- Keyways Vineyard & Winery
- Leonesse Cellars
- Maurice Car'rie Winery
- Miramonte Winery
- Mount Palomar Winery
- Palumbo Family Vineyards & Winery
- Ponte Family Winery
- South Coast Winery
- Stuart Cellars
- Thornton Winery
- Van Roekel Vineyards & Winery
- Wilson Creek Winery & Vineyard
Tourism
Image:Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival.jpg Although the area is not as well known as Palm Springs, the warm desert climate attracts tourists year-round, especially golfers who can use one of the nine local golf courses.
Temecula is well known for its hot air balloon rides and tours, floating over wineries and desert terrain. The image of colorful hot air balloons is used throughout the Temecula Valley as a quickly recognizable symbol of the city.
Old Town Temecula
A collection of historic 1890s buildings, antique stores, shopping and restaurants, Old Town Temecula is also home to such events as car shows, western days and summer entertainment. Over 600 antique dealers do buisness in the district.
Every Saturday, Old Town also plays host to the state certified Temecula Farmer's Market. Here, local farmers only sell products that they grow themselves.
Old Town is also home to the Temecula Museum which features exhibits about the local band of Native Americans and the local natural history and city development.
Pechanga Resort and Casino
In 2001, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians built the $262 million Pechanga Resort & Casino complex. Linked together in an architectural design that subtly highlights the tribe's Luiseño culture, the facility includes: an 85,000-square foot casino, 1,200-seat bingo hall, 515,000 square-foot, 14-story, 522-room hotel and 38,800 square-foot convention center, 1,200-seat showroom, 200-seat cabaret lounge, and seven restaurants. The new casino also features 2,000 slot machines, 60 card tables and 15 poker tables.
The venue also attracts big name performances. Pechanga has played host to the musical Chicago, singer and actress Liza Minelli, and comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld among countless others.
The resort attracts gamblers and tourists from all over California and the U.S.
The Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival
Filmmakers and musicians from across America and around the globe have come to Temecula every September since 1995 to participate and enjoy in the celebration of film and music.
Attendance has grown from 600 in 1995 to 10,000 in 2004. Media coverage is extensive and global, boasting of over 15,000,000 media impressions worldwide. Over 700 films have been screened from more than 20 countries since 1995.
Lifetime and Career Achievement Award honorees include distinguished film and music icons of past and present such as Howard W. Koch, Robert Wise, Carl Reiner, Karl Malden, Shirley Jones, Michael York, Ray Charles, Rita Coolidge, Marsha Mason, Robert Stack, Gale Ann Hurd, William Shatner, Patty Duke, Billy Preston, Sam Grogg, Julie Corman, Etta James, John Spencer, Diane Ladd, Penelope Spheeris, Howard Suber, AC Lyles, Louis Gossett, Jr, Lou Rawls, Jonathan Lynn, Dr. Elizabeth Daley, Gina Gershon, Trevor Rabin, and Michael Childers.
The festival is open to US and Foreign films in five categories: Full Length Features, Shorts, Documentaries, Animation and Student Films.
The music competition component of TVIFF is designed to showcase the music vision and artistic wizardry of talented individuals and groups from across America and the world. Entries for all genres of music, from rock, jazz and pop, Hip Hop, R&B, Latin, Country, Folk, and World are accepted.
The festival's social calendar starts with Opening Night Festivities, followed by daily & nightly filmmaker/musician receptions, industry workshops, a Lifetime and Career Achievement Awards Black Tie Gala, a Sunday morning Hot Air Balloon Ride, a Closing Night Wrap party and Best of Fest special screening presentations and much more.
Sister Cities
Temecula maintains international relations with two cities, Leidschendam-Voorburg in the Netherlands and Nakayama in Japan.
Schools in Temecula send students every year to both cities in order to experience culture and to help strengthen ties between the cities.
The city recently dedicated a Japanese Garden at the centrally located Temecula Duck Pond to honor the 10th anniversary of the city's relationship with sister city Nakayama.
The Temecula Duck Pond is also home to an art piece entitled “Singing in the Rain.” It was commissioned by the city of Leidschendam-Voorburg as a gift to the city to commemorate the resilient American spirit in the aftermath of 9/11. The piece depicts a mother and her children bravely peddling a bicycle into the strong headwinds of a storm. The statue stands as a lasting tribute to the strength and courage of those who refuse to be broken by brutality and terrorism.
Temecula Valley Unified School District
The Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) has schools in Temecula, Murrieta and Winchester, California. The general boundaries extend north to Baxter Road in French Valley, south to the Riverside County line, east to Vail Lake, and west to the Temecula city limit. The district covers approximately 148 square miles.
The district has expanded rapidly in the last few years. In 2004, the district opened its third high school, Great Oak High School, only six years after the opening of its second high school, Chaparral High.
Approximately 25,000 students (Grades K-12) are currently enrolled in the district. The district offers many programs for students to advance their educational experience.
Ronald Reagan and Temecula
In a March 1983 speech to the U.S. Olympic Committee, President Ronald Reagan praised a commmunity in Southern California and their "can-do" volunteer spirit: "... There are many similar stories right here in California, the folks in a rather small town, Temecula. They got together and built themselves a sports park, held fundraising barbecues and dinners. And those that didn't have money, volunteered the time and energy. And now the young people of that community have baseball diamonds for Little League and other sports events, just due to what's traditional Americanism... " At the time of the speech, Temecula was six years away from becoming a city and many projects were completed by community leaders and volunteers who provided money, labor and equipment.
Reagan also owned a 771-acre spread in nearby Tenaja where he contemplated building a ranch. He bought the land in 1968 and sold it 11 years later.
On the 22nd anniversary of the speech, in 2005, about 70 city officials, community leaders and residents gathered to formally rename the Rancho California Sports Park, which has served the community for many years with its family friendly sports fields and attractions, after Reagan. Former first lady Nancy Reagan sent a letter thanking the city.
It was recently decided that the city would dedicate a memorial to the 40th president and place the statue in the park. The monument will depict a young family and represent the volunteers who helped build the park. Those figures will be life-size. Reagan will be larger-than-life, a short distance away. He will be smiling as he looks at the family. He will be holding a cowboy hat in one hand and leaning on a shovel in the other.
Construction of the memorial is slated to begin by the 23rd anniversary of the speech in 2006.
Geography
Temecula is located at 33°30'12" North, 117°7'25" West (33.503295, -117.123687)1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 68.1 km² (26.3 mi²). 68.0 km² (26.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.11% water.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 57,716 people, 18,293 households, and 15,164 families residing in the city. The population density is 848.6/km² (2,198.3/mi²). There are 19,099 housing units at an average density of 280.8/km² (727.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 78.93% White, 3.42% African American, 0.86% Native American, 4.73% Asian, 0.30% Pacific Islander, 7.41% from other races, and 4.35% from two or more races. 19.01% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 18,293 households out of which 52.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.8% are married couples living together, 10.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 17.1% are non-families. 12.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 3.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.15 and the average family size is 3.45.
In the city the population is spread out with 34.7% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 33.3% from 25 to 44, 17.2% from 45 to 64, and 7.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 31 years. For every 100 females there are 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 94.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $76,892 (2003), and the median income for a family is $68,051 (2003). Males have a median income of $47,113 (2000) versus $31,608 (2000) for females. The per capita income for the city is $24,312 (2003). 6.7% of the population and 5.6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 7.1% of those under the age of 18 and 3.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
External links
- Temecula city government.
- Temecula California.
- Temecula Information.
- The Promenade in Temecula.
- Temecula Unified School District.
- Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians.
- Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce.
- Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Local or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Local or Microsoft Virtual Earth
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