La Verne - A Close-Knit Community
Incorporated in 1906, the history of La Verne dates back to the 1830s when Don Palomares received a 15,000 acre land grant from Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1837, a grant which included the land of present day cities Pomona, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, and La Verne and was called Rancho San Jose. The adobe which Palomares built in 1837 is still preserved in Pomona as 'La Casa Primera' (The First House).
Palomares moved a mile or so northeast and constructed the Palomares Adobe and then ensured that a nephew, Jose Dolores Palomares, secured a tract of land a mile west. In the mid-1880s, enterpreneur Issac W. Lord purchased a tract of Jose Palomares' land and convinced the Santa Fe Railroad company to run its line across towards Los Angeles. Lord had the land surveyed for building lots and in 1887 had a large land sale, naming the new town 'Lordsburg' after himself. He also had a large Lordsburg Hotel constructed, but the land boom was over by the time it was completed. It sat empty for several years, until sold to four members of the German Baptist Brethren Church, who persuaded others of that denomination that it would be an excellent site for a new institution of higher learning. Lordsburg College (now called the University of La Verne was founded in 1891.
After the town was incorporated, Lordsburg became known as the "Heart of the Orange Empire." In 1917, after I.W. Lord died, citizens changed the name to "La Verne," taking the name of a small unincorporated village which had once been settled to the west. (The name "La Verne" was originally used for their orange groves by two sisters who assumed, incorrectly, that it meant 'the green,' in French.
La Verne flourished as a center of the citrus industry until after World War II, when groves grew old and were gradually bulldozed and replaced by tract homes. It is now a close-knit community that retains its small town feel. Come and experience it for yourself.
Source: City of La Verne and Wikipedia Encyclopedia
