Editing La Puente, California (section)

==History==
[[File:Rancho La Puente.png|thumb|left|La Puente sits on land that was originally part of [[Rancho La Puente]], a Mexican era [[ranchos of California|rancho]] granted in 1840. The area had already been named La Puente by [[Juan Crespí]] during the 1769 [[Portolá expedition]].]]
The original inhabitants of the area now occupied by the city of La Puente were the [[Tongva]] lived in a village called [[Awigna, California|Awingna]], which linguists translate as "abiding place." The Awingna chief Matheo (who also held sway over several other nearby villages) was baptized at Mission San Gabriel in 1774.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.laokay.com/halac/RanchoLaPuente.htm |title=The Adobes of Rancho la Puente - Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County by John R. Kielbasa ISBN 0-8059-4172-X - Things to do in Los Angeles |access-date=December 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809162306/http://www.laokay.com/halac/RanchoLaPuente.htm |archive-date=August 9, 2014 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

[[Image:La Puente Valley Women's Club.JPG|thumb|left|200px|La Puente Valley Women's Club is listed on the National Register of Historic Places]]
In 1769, the Spanish [[Portolá expedition]] became the first [[Europe]]ans to see inland portions of [[Alta California]]. [[Timeline of the Portolà expedition|On July 30]], the party camped on the east side of the [[San Gabriel River (California)|San Gabriel River]], in today's unincorporated area of [[Bassett, California|Bassett]]. Father [[Juan Crespi]] wrote in his diary that, the next day, they had to build a bridge (Spanish "puente") to cross the miry San Gabriel River.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=144 |year=1927 |title=Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1774 |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000288788 |publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library |access-date=April 4, 2014}}</ref>

With the establishment of [[Mission San Gabriel]], the area encompassing Awingna and what is now the city of La Puente became part of [[Rancho La Puente]], established as a mission outpost and ranch. The rancho was visited by the [[Jedediah Smith]] party in November 1826, the first Americans to travel overland to California.<ref>Smith, J. S., & Brooks, G. R. (1977). ''The Southwest expedition of Jedediah S. Smith: His personal account of the journey to California, 1826-1827'', p.96. Glendale, Calif: A. H. Clark Co. {{ISBN|0870621238}}</ref>

Following secularization of the missions in the 1830s, former mission ranchos passed into private ownership. In 1842, [[John A. Rowland|John Rowland]] and [[Workman-Temple family|William Workman]] were granted the {{convert|48000|acre|km2|adj=on}} Rancho La Puente. In 1884, the area was named ''Puente'' (''bridge'' in Spanish; in old Spanish the noun was often feminine,<ref>"[http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=puente Diccionario de la Real Académia Española]." Online edition.</ref> as opposed to modern Spanish ''el puente''). In Crespi's diary, it was written as "la puente",<ref>Crespí, J., Brown, A. K., & San Diego State University. (2001). ''A description of distant roads: Original journals of the first expedition into California, 1769-1770'', p.328. San Diego, CA: San Diego State University Press.</ref> and that spelling has persisted.

The area was known for its fruit and [[walnut]] groves during the 1930s.  The city was even home to the world's largest walnut packing plant.<ref>History of La Puente. https://lapuente.org/about-us/history/</ref>  
A small airport called the 'Skyranch' operated in La Puente from 1944 to 1951 before it was closed and developed for housing.<ref>Marty Shields and John Garside. Puente Sky Ranch Airport - A Forgotten Tale of the Rancho La Puente (2014 video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2UQusaevls</ref>
Today, the city is heavily urbanized, but the area still has some historical landmarks from its founding days nearby, for instance, the [[Homestead Museum|Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum]] in neighboring [[City of Industry, California|City of Industry]].

Redevelopment of the business districts in La Puente have been ongoing.  However, the local government has been relatively unsuccessful in its attempts to attract big-box retailers and restaurant chains. La Puente retains many aging 1950s-era strip malls.