A Brief History of Pomona, California

The city is named for Pomona, the ancient Roman goddess of fruit. The town received this name even before a single orange tree had been planted within its boundaries, but by the 1880s, the arrival of railroads and Coachella Valley water had made it the western anchor of the citrus-growing region that encompassed most of what is now known unofficially as the Inland Empire.

Pomona is generally not identified as part of the Inland Empire because it is in Los Angeles County, as opposed to being in Riverside or San Bernardino Counties. However, because Pomona is part of the 909 telephone area code which includes many of the communities in the Inland Empire, and because of the San Jose Hills on Pomona's western city limit that creates a physical/psychological 'barrier' between Pomona and the rest of Los Angeles County, it would not be unusual to include Pomona within the definition of the Inland Empire.

Pomona was officially incorporated on January 1, 1888, and is now the 5th largest city in Los Angeles County.