Editing Hemet, California (section)

==History==
[[File:MazeStone.jpg|thumb|The [[Hemet Maze Stone]], 2012]]
This had long been the territory of the indigenous Soboba people and [[Cahuilla]] tribe prior to Spanish colonization. During the early 19th century, [[Mission San Luis Rey]] used the land for cattle ranching. They named the area with the settler name ''Rancho San Jacinto''.

===Etymology===
{{See also|List of Riverside County, California, placename etymologies#Hemet}}
Hemet was named by the land development company that founded the town, ''The Lake Hemet Land Company''. The company drew its name from Hemet Valley, now called [[Garner Valley]], located in the [[San Jacinto Mountains]]. Initially, the company referred to the area as South San Jacinto, but changed the name to Hemet when the land company filed a plat map on November 11, 1893.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 27, 1890 |title=Hemet Land Co., South San Jacinto, Cal. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64207384/hemet-land-co-ad-for-south-san/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209133514/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64207384/hemet-land-co-ad-for-south-san/ |archive-date=December 9, 2020 |access-date=November 29, 2020 |work=The Examiner |publisher=W. R. Hearst |location=San Francisco, CA |page=22 |volume=LI |issue=27}}</ref>

===Mexican period===
[[File:José_Antonio_Estudillo.jpg|thumb|left|Hemet was part of [[Rancho San Jacinto Viejo]], granted in 1842 to [[Californio]] politician Don [[José Antonio Estudillo]].]]
Following [[Mexico]] gaining independence from Spain, in 1842, settler [[José Antonio Estudillo]] received the [[Rancho San Jacinto Viejo]] [[Ranchos of California|Mexican land grant]].{{r|Hemet City}}

In 1848, the United States annexed the California territory after defeating Mexico in the [[Mexican–American War]]. In 1887, during the first major Southern California land boom, Anglo-Americans W.F. Whittier and E.L. Mayberry founded the [[Lake Hemet]] Water Company, and the Lake Hemet Land Company, for speculative development. They had plans to dam the San Jacinto River to provide irrigation water to the valley.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 23, 1887 |title=Incorporate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64206641/incorporation-of-the-lake-hemet-water/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209134921/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64206641/incorporation-of-the-lake-hemet-water/ |archive-date=December 9, 2020 |access-date=November 29, 2020 |work=The Los Angeles Times |publisher=The Times-Mirror Company |location=Los Angeles, California |page=2 |volume=XI |issue=44}}</ref> They named the town Hemet in November 1893.

In 1895, they completed [[Hemet Dam]] as a private project on the [[San Jacinto River (California)|San Jacinto River]], creating Lake Hemet and providing a reliable water supply to the San Jacinto Valley. This water system, for irrigation in an arid region, was integral to the valley's development as an agricultural area.<ref name="Hemet City">{{Cite web |title=History of Hemet |url=https://www.hemetca.gov/120/History-of-Hemet |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204211358/https://www.hemetca.gov/120/History-of-Hemet |archive-date=February 4, 2020 |access-date=March 28, 2020 |publisher=City of Hemet}}</ref>

By 1894, settlers had established a newspaper, the ''[[Hemet News]]'', and "several general stores", the largest being Heffelfinger & Co, which occupied an entire block. Other businesses included "a drug store, an excellent barber shop, two blacksmith shops, harness shop, shoe repairing houses, two real estate offices and two lumber yards." "The most pretentious building" was the two-story Hotel Mayberry, "supplied with all the modern conveniences usually found in first-class hostelries, including stationary water, baths, etc., and a complete electric light system, the power for which is furnished by the company's private plant."<ref name="HemetA">{{Cite news |date=November 17, 1894 |title="Hemet: A Glimpse at Its Improvements and News of the Enterprises," ''Los Angeles Herald,'' November 17, 1894 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78439656/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404222129/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78439656/los-angeles-herald/ |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |access-date=May 27, 2021 |work=Los Angeles Herald |page=8}}</ref> Also noted was the Hemet flour mill, owned by John McCool and built at a cost of $20,000. It was the only such mill in this area, and was housed in a brick building. It could produce 50 barrels of flour per day.<ref name="HemetA" />

===Incorporation===
[[File:Harvard Street 1907.jpg|thumb|Harvard Street c. 1907, Hemet Hotel in background]]
[[File:Gibbel Hardware - 1918 Earthquake.jpg|thumb|Gibbel Hardware following the [[1918 San Jacinto earthquake]]]]
[[File:Downtown Hemet - Harvard St at Florida Ave - Sunrise.jpg|thumb|Sunrise over Downtown Hemet, south down Harvard Street, 2014]]
[[File:Downtown Hemet - Nevins Building - Downtown Deli.jpg|thumb|Downtown Hemet, south down North Harvard Street, 2015]]

Hemet was incorporated in January 1910. Of 177 residents, 130 voted to incorporate, with 33 against. Those who voted against incorporation were landowners who feared increased taxation. The incorporation helped to serve the growing city, which was outgrowing its current infrastructure.<ref name="100yrs">{{Cite news |last=Rokos |first=Brian |date=January 10, 2010 |title=100 years ago today, voters brought forth a new city – Hemet |url=http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_W_hemet11.41dc0a0.html?fw=http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_W_hemet11.41dc0a0.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131053339/http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_W_hemet11.41dc0a0.html?fw=http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_W_hemet11.41dc0a0.html |archive-date=January 31, 2013 |access-date=September 17, 2010 |work=The Press Enterprise}}</ref>

With a railroad spur running from [[Riverside, California|Riverside]], the city became a trading center for San Jacinto Valley agriculture; commodity crops included citrus, apricots, peaches, olives, and walnuts. The Agricultural District Farmer's Fair of Riverside County began here in 1936 as the Hemet Turkey Show. It was relocated to [[Perris, California|Perris]].

During [[World War II]], the city hosted the Ryan School of Aeronautics, which trained about 6,000 fliers for the [[Army Air Force]] between 1940 and 1944. The site of the flight school was redeveloped as [[Hemet-Ryan Airport]]. In 1950, Hemet was home to 10,000 people, joining [[Corona, California|Corona]] and Riverside as the three largest cities in Riverside County.

Hemet was racially discriminatory. Numerous African Americans migrated to California during and after World War II in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] from such Deep South states as Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Hemet was a [[sundown town]], prohibiting African Americans from living there or even staying overnight.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jennings |first=Bill |date=December 11, 1992 |title=Left-Hander Finds Many Who Impress |work=[[The Press-Enterprise]] |location=[[Riverside, California]] |page=B1 |edition=Hemet-San Jacinto |via=NewsBank |quote=It must have bothered a few attending the stellar affair because in those days Hemet was pretty well a sundown town, meaning blacks could work over here during the day but they had better head for Perris or wherever at dusk.}}</ref>

In the 1960s, large-scale residential development began, mostly in the form of [[mobile home]] parks and retirement communities. Hemet was known as a working-class retirement area. In the 1980s, former ranchland was developed in subdivisions of single-family homes. "Big-box" retail followed the increase in population. After a roughly decade-long lull in development following the major economic downturn of the early 1990s, housing starts in the city skyrocketed in the early 21st century. The area's affordability, its proximity to employment centers such as Corona, Riverside and [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]], and its relatively rural character made it an attractive location for working-class families priced out of other areas of Southern California.
[[File:Hemet Panorama.jpg|thumb|300px|Hemet panorama at night from the entrance of Simpson Park]]