The story
History
The area was home to Native Americans.
The European history of the area dates back to the 1830s when Ygnacio Palomares and Ricardo Véjar received the 15,000-acre (61 km2) Rancho San Jose land grant from Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1837. The land included the present day cities Pomona, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, and La Verne. The adobe that Palomares built in 1837 is still preserved in Pomona as La Casa Primera de Rancho San Jose (The First House). Palomares soon moved a mile or so northeast and constructed the Ygnacio Palomares Adobe. He ensured that a nephew, Jose Dolores Palomares, secured a tract of land a mile west.
In the mid-1880s, entrepreneur Isaac 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 when 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 was founded in 1891.
In 1906 the town was incorporated as "La Verne." Residents grew field crops, and then began planting citrus trees, which flourished. Lordsburg became known as the "Heart of the Orange Empire." The city of La Verne flourished as a center of the citrus industry until after World War II, when the citrus industry slowly faded away. Two orange groves are on the grounds of the La Verne Heritage Foundation.
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, La Verne had a population of 31,334. The population density was 3,720.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,436.5/km2).
The age distribution was 19.2% under the age of 18, 8.0% aged 18 to 24, 21.8% aged 25 to 44, 27.5% aged 45 to 64, and 23.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 86.8 males age 18 and over.
The census reported that 99.4% of the population lived in households, 0.4% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.2% were institutionalized. 100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 11,844 households in La Verne, of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 53.5% were married-couple households, 4.2% were cohabiting couple households, 13.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63. There were 8,439 families (71.3% of all households).
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There were 12,218 housing units at an average density of 1,450.7 units per square mile (560.1 units/km2), of which 11,844 (96.9%) were occupied. Of these, 71.1% were owner-occupied, and 28.9% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.5%, and the rental vacancy rate was 4.7%.
2023 ACS 5-year estimate
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $104,565, and the per capita income was $50,951. About 6.3% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line.
2010 census
At the 2010 census La Verne had a population of 31,063. The population density was 3,628.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,400.8/km2). The racial makeup of La Verne was 23,057 (74.2%) White (55.4% Non-Hispanic White), 1,065 (3.4%) African American, 265 (0.9%) Native American, 2,381 (7.7%) Asian, 61 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 2,822 (9.1%) from other races, and 1,412 (4.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9,635 persons (31.0%).
The census reported that 30,387 people (97.8% of the population) lived in households, 501 (1.6%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 175 (0.6%) were institutionalized.
There were 11,261 households, 3,582 (31.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 6,286 (55.8%) were married couples living together, 1,438 (12.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 489 (4.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 420 (3.7%) unmarried couples living together, and 74 (0.7%) homosexual partners living together. 2,517 households (22.4%) had one person and 1,429 (12.7%) had someone who was 65 or older living alone. The average household size was 2.70. There were 8,213 families (72.9% of households); the average family size was 3.16.
The age distribution was 6,605 people (21.3%) under the age of 18, 3,106 people (10.0%) aged 18 to 24, 6,678 people (21.5%) aged 25 to 44, 9,417 people (30.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 5,257 people (16.9%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 42.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.
There were 11,686 housing units at an average density of 1,364.9 per square mile, of the occupied units 8,388 (74.5%) were owner-occupied and 2,873 (25.5%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.4%. 22,995 people (74.0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 7,392 people (23.8%) lived in rental housing units.
During 2009–2013, La Verne had a median household income of $77,040, with 7.9% of the population living below the federal poverty line.
2000 census
Mapping L.A. reported that in 2000, Mexican (17.7%) and German (12.2%) were the most common ancestries. Mexico (22.3%) and the Philippines (11.8%) were the most common foreign places of birth.
From Wikipedia’s article on La Verne, California, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4