Editing Murrieta, California (section)

==History==
The [[Luiseño]] people<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.murrietaca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/754/05-09---Cultural-Resources-PDF|title=Cultural Resources - City of Murrieta}}</ref> founded the village of Avaa7ax or 'Avaa'ax where Murrieta stands today.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt6tr732gg/qt6tr732gg_noSplash_003204331d54e438c409389eb220ba37.pdf|title=SPECIAL LEXICAL ITEMS: NUMERALS, PLACE NAMES, GENTILICS}}</ref>

For most of its history, Murrieta was not heavily populated. On June 9, 1873,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/8375|title=Chain of title for Rancho Temecula and Rancho Pauba, ca.1920|work=[[California Historical Society]]|publisher=[[University of Southern California Libraries]]}}</ref> Domingo Pujol, Francisco Sanjurjo, and Juan and Ezequiel Murrieta purchased the [[Rancho Pauba]] and [[Rancho Temecula]] Mexican land grants, comprising {{convert|52000|acre|km2|0}} in the area. Ezequiel returned to Spain and turned the land over to his younger brother, Juan Murrieta (1844–1936), who brought 7,000 sheep<ref>San Diego Union, June 5, 1873</ref> to the valley in 1873, using the meadows to feed his sheep. The partnership dissolved in 1876 and Ezequiel and Juan Murrieta retained 15,000 acres of the northern half of the Temecula Rancho.<ref>Temecula at the Crossroads of History; {{ISBN|1-886483-14-0}}</ref> Ezequiel and Juan Murrieta granted a right-of-way, one hundred feet wide to the [[California Southern Railroad]] through the Temecula Rancho on April 28, 1882, so that the railroad could be constructed through the valley.{{sfn|Boyce|1995|p=22}}

[[File:Murrieta, California (circa 1915).webp|thumb|left|Murrieta, circa 1915]]

In 1884, the Temecula Land and Water Company purchased about 14,500 acres from Juan Murrieta and mapped a townsite along the California Southern Railroad.{{sfn|Boyce|1995|p=16}} Others discovered the valley after the construction of a depot in 1887{{sfn|Boyce|1995|p=30}} that connected Murrieta to the [[California Southern Railroad|Southern California Railroad]]'s transcontinental route. By 1890, some 800 people lived in Murrieta.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=http://www.murrieta.org/about/history.asp|title=City of Murrieta - Murrieta History|website=www.murrieta.org|access-date=August 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924030123/http://murrieta.org/about/history.asp|archive-date=September 24, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Today much of the site (about 50 acres) is home to a Bible college and conference center, owned by [[Calvary Chapel]] [[Costa Mesa]], which has invested millions of dollars into restoring and rebuilding the old resort rooms.<ref>Murrieta, California (Images of America Series); {{ISBN|0-7385-4669-0}}</ref> When the trains stopped in 1935, tourists—the lifeblood of the town—were much harder to come by. The boom that Murrieta had experienced due to the train and the hot springs gradually died, leaving Murrieta as a small country town.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://murrieta.org/about/history.asp|title=City of Murrieta - Murrieta History|website=murrieta.org|access-date=August 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924030123/http://murrieta.org/about/history.asp|archive-date=September 24, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Although [[US Route 395]] had passed through Murrieta, it was not until [[Interstate 15 in California|Interstate 15]] was built in the early 1980s that another boom began to take hold. By the late 1980s, [[suburban]] neighborhoods were being constructed, and people began moving to the Murrieta area from cities and towns in [[San Diego County|San Diego]] and [[Orange County, California|Orange]] counties, as well as other parts of [[Riverside County, California|Riverside County]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cahighways.org/009-016.html#015|title=California Highways (www.cahighways.org): Routes 9 through 16|website=www.cahighways.org|access-date=August 31, 2017}}</ref>

In 1990, residents began a campaign for city status which resulted in the incorporation of the City of Murrieta on July 1, 1991. By then the population was 24,000, a major increase from 2,200 in 1980. Between 1991 and 2007, the city's population further increased to an estimated 97,257 residents, and {{As of|2010|alt=at the 2010 United States Census}} the city's population was 103,466, making it the largest city in southwestern Riverside County at that time.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

In July 2014, Murrieta garnered national attention following days of citizen protests of detained immigrants.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/influx-of-central-american-migrants-roils-murrieta-calif.html|title=Influx of Central American Migrants Roils Murrieta, Calif.|first=Jennifer|last=Medina|date=July 3, 2014|access-date=August 29, 2020|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>
Murrieta residents successfully blocked busloads of illegal immigrant detainees.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/28/how-violent-american-vigilantes-at-the-border-led-to-trumps-wall|title=How violent American vigilantes at the border led to Trump's wall|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=February 28, 2019|author=Greg Grandin}}</ref> They were en route to a temporary relocation and detention facility, which the federal government had planned to establish in the town.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Murphy|first1=Kathy|title=UC Berkeley celebrates free speech movement's 50th anniversary|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_26633176/uc-berkeley-celebrates-free-speech-movements-50th-anniversary|access-date=October 4, 2014|newspaper=San Jose Mercury News|date=September 30, 2014}}</ref>