Etiwanda Colony Lands was first laid out along the present Etiwanda Avenue by the Chaffey Brothers in early 1882. This area comprised about nineteen hundred acres and had the Etiwanda School. The Perdew School and the Grapeland School both closed in the late 1890's and annexed to the Etiwanda School District so this District grew until it was enrolling the pupils from this wide sparsely populated area. 

Later the Home Telephone Company was created to serve most of the area. A Justice Court District was established to serve generally the same area originally served by the three school districts so that it eventually became known as Etiwanda. 

The articles in this paper have been gathered from many sources in an attempt to tell the story of the early pioneers' search for water and land to provide them with their livelihood. Without water this part of California is a desert for six months of each year so naturally the first settlers located along the base of the mountains where streams and springs would furnish water all year, for their homes, crops and livestock.

Etiwanda Congregational Church A designated Historical Landmark,  by the CIty of Rancho Cucamonga.

Mr. George Day was the first to file on the water of Day Canyon after he purchased one hundred and sixty acres at the mouth of the canyon from E. K. Dunlap in 1867. The area was known as Young's Ranchito prior to this time but no record of a Mr. Young has been located. Other families settled along the foothills and brief stories of each are to follow. 

The population of the area probably did not exceed one thousand for many years and it was not until the late twentieth century before it exceeded two thousand. These people who first settled brought with them a great ability to serve their need. They first created schools and churches, then they organized dried fruit associations to prepare and market their apricots, peaches and muscat grapes, then a citrus fruit packing house to prepare and ship their oranges and lemons.  
 

Frost Bros. Store. Etiwanda Post Office W.H. Frost, Postmaster and Notary Public, 1910.**

They created the Home Telephone Company to serve the area, three domestic water associations to store and distribute their household water; a Justice Court with a Justice of the Peace and a Constable, a civic center (Cypress Hall), men and women service clubs to support the young people. They maintained a post office, two general stores, a blacksmith shop, and a milk and paper route. They also had labor camps at various times for Chinese, Japanese and Mexican field help. They had a Board of Trade, a scout troop; they supported baseball and later softball teams in inter-city competition. At one time they had a local street maintenance man. The only important public service lacking was a sewer system and it is still not installed in the major part of the area.

Although the area had an early start as towns go in this Valley, a lack of a large supply of water limited its growth. Today the area is crossed by two large pipelines of the Metropolitan Water District, running parallel to each other; one on Wilson Avenue and the other south of the Santa Fe Railroad that carry water from the Feather River and the Colorado River, so this is no longer a limiting factor to its future growth. 

Etiwanda had reached the peak of its agricultural productivity by the start of World War II. With the coming of Kaiser Steel and other industrial plants the area began to decline as a major agricultural center. This slow decline lasted for forty years until it had nearly seen the last of the citrus trees and vines. 

Looking South on Etiwanda Avenue.

Its future is being shaped by a 2,150-acre master planned development proposed by the William Lyon Company of Long Beach. This project will be located north of Foothill Blvd. and west of Etiwanda Avenue.