Editing Corona, California (section)

==History==
=== Indigenous ===
[[File:Luiseno adobe 1910.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Tongva]] and [[Payómkawichum]] (pictured in 1910) long inhabited the area that is now Corona.]]
Prior to the late eighteenth century, the area was primarily inhabited by the [[Tongva]] and [[Payómkawichum]], who lived in a series of villages throughout the area. What is now Corona stood at the southeastern extent of [[Tovaangar]], or the Tongva world, and at the northern edge of Payómkawichum territory.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1138875692 |title=East of east : the making of greater El Monte |date=2020 |others=Romeo Guzman, {{proper name|Carri|bean|nohide=y}} Fragoza, Alex Sayf Cummings, Ryan Reft |isbn=978-1-9788-0550-7 |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |pages=18 |oclc=1138875692}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Greene |first1=Sean |last2=Curwen |first2=Thomas |title=Mapping the Tongva villages of L.A.'s past |url=https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-tongva-map/ |access-date=December 20, 2022 |website=www.latimes.com |date=May 9, 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

The primary settlement in the area was the village of [[Paxauxa]], which was established along the banks of the [[Temescal Creek (Riverside County)|Temescal Creek]] at about where Corona is situated today. The settlement was shared by both the [[Tongva]] and [[Payómkawichum]] people. Cooperation and marriage between the two villages was common.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wkc0AQAAMAAJ |title=Santa Ana River Main Stem and Santiago Creek: Environmental Impact Statement |publisher=US Army Corps of Engineers |year=1978 |pages=122 |chapter=4 Affected Environment}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pwi2fcbAPxgC |title=Handbook of North American Indians |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=1978 |pages=547}}</ref> High above the city of Corona, the village of [[Pamajam]] was also located in a small valley of the [[Santa Ana Mountains]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qh0QAQAAMAAJ |title=The Masterkey for Indian Lore and History, Volume 30 |publisher=Southwest Museum |year=1956 |pages=46}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1999 |title=Hills for Everyone: Friends of the Wildlife Corridor |url=https://www.hillsforeveryone.org/PDFs/news/hfe-publications/newsletters/1999/fall-1999.pdf |journal=Hills for Everyone |volume=1 |pages=6}}</ref>

=== Colonial period ===
[[File:Portrait_of_Don_Bernardo_Yorba_by_an_unknown_artist.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Don [[Bernardo Yorba]], a wealthy [[Californio]] ranchero, was granted [[Rancho La Sierra (Yorba)|Rancho La Sierra]], which included all of modern-day Corona.]]The founding of [[Mission San Juan Capistrano]] in 1776 and [[Mission San Luis Rey de Francia|Mission San Luis Rey]] in 1798 saw the introduction of Spanish soldiers and missionaries in the area. This resulted in villagers being brought to the mission to be baptized and as labor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wkc0AQAAMAAJ |title=Santa Ana River Main Stem and Santiago Creek: Environmental Impact Statement |date=1978 |language=en}}</ref>

Spanish influence increased in the area with the establishment of the [[San Antonio de Pala Asistencia]] in 1816. Two years following the construction of this mission outpost, the [[Temescal Valley (California)|Temescal Valley]]'s first European resident, Leandro Serrano, was given permission by the Spanish to use the area for [[cattle grazing]]. His first order was to kill the local [[California bear|bear]] and [[mountain lion]] population for the imported herds.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Lech |first=Steve |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/945980945 |title=Pioneers of Riverside County : the Spanish, Mexican and early American periods |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-61423-783-9 |location=Charleston, SC |format=eBook |oclc=945980945}}</ref>

After the [[Mexican secularization act of 1833|secularization of the Spanish missions]] by the [[First Mexican Republic]] in 1833, the land under influence by the missions in [[Alta California]] was gradually granted to large landowners as ranches. In 1848, Californio governor [[Pio Pico]] issued this land to [[Bernardo Yorba]], which included present-day city of Corona.<ref>Ogden Hoffman, 1862, ''Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California'', Numa Hubert, San Francisco</ref><ref name=":1" />

===Establishment===
[[File:ButterfieldstagestationCorona1860.jpg|thumb|right| [[Temescal Butterfield stage station]] Corona in 1860]]Corona was founded at the height of the Southern California [[citrus]] boom in 1886, and is situated at the upper end of the [[Santa Ana River]] Canyon, a significant pass through the [[Santa Ana Mountains]]. The town of Corona was once the "Lemon Capital of the World". A museum there presents the lemon's former role in the local economy. The city's name means crown in Spanish due to the circular shape of a crown and the circular shape of [[Grand Boulevard (Corona)|Grand Blvd]]. The nickname of Corona is "The Circle City" from the unique layout of its streets, with a standard grid enclosed by the circular Grand Boulevard, {{convert|2.75|mi|km}} in circumference.<ref>{{cite news|title=Corona: 'Circle City' to mark centennial of road races|url=http://www.pe.com/articles/corona-675538-race-city.html|newspaper=[[The Press-Enterprise]]|date=August 16, 2013|quote=…Grand Boulevard seems a quaint oddity. A perfect circle, with a circumference just over 2.75 miles, it's the rationale for Corona's tagline as the 'Circle City'.}}</ref> The street layout was designed by Hiram Clay Kellogg, a civil engineer from [[Anaheim, California|Anaheim]] who was an influential figure in the early development of Orange County.

Corona was established as a town by the [[South Riverside Land and Water Company]]. The company was incorporated in 1886; founding members included ex-Governor of Iowa [[Samuel Merrill (Iowa governor)|Samuel Merrill]], R.B. Taylor, George L. Joy, A.S. Garretson, and Adolph Rimpau.<ref>[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8z3208k/ Finding aid of South Riverside Land and Water Company records, Online Archive of California] from oac.cdlib.org accessed April 26, 2015.</ref> Originally a citrus growers' organization, it purchased the lands of [[Rancho La Sierra (Yorba)|Rancho La Sierra]] of Bernardo Yorba, and the [[Rancho Temescal (Serrano)|Rancho Temescal]] grant and the colony of South Riverside was laid out. They also secured the water rights to [[Temescal Creek (Riverside County)|Temescal Creek]], its tributaries and Lee Lake. Dams and pipelines were built to carry the water to the colony. In 1889, the Temescal Water Company was incorporated, to supply water for the new colony. This company purchased all the water-bearing lands in the Temescal valley and began drilling artesian wells.<ref>Ellerbe, ''History of Temescal Valley'', pp. 18–19</ref>

Originally located in [[San Bernardino County, California|San Bernardino County]], the city was named "South Riverside" and received its post office in that name on either May 27<ref name=PO>{{cite book |last1=Salley |first1=Harold E. |date=1977 |title= History of California Post Offices, 1849-1976|publisher= The Depot|isbn=0-9601558-1-3}}</ref> or August 11, 1887<ref>Frickstad, Walter N., ''A Century of California Post Offices 1848-1954'', Philatelic Research Society, Oakland, CA. 1955, pp.135-147</ref> with Charles H. Cornell as the town's first [[postmaster]].<ref name=PO/> In 1893, South Riverside became part of the new Riverside County. In 1896, the city was renamed "Corona" for its circular Grand Boulevard, where three international automobile races were held in 1913, 1914 and 1916.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hoover|first=Mildred B.|author2=Hero Rensch|author3=Ethel Rensch|author4=William N. Abeloe|title=Historic Spots in California|year=1966|publisher=Stanford University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/historicspotsinc00rens|url-access=registration|isbn=978-0-8047-4482-9}}</ref>

===20th century===
[[File:California - Corona - NARA - 23934195.jpg|left|thumb|Aerial view of Corona in the 1940s.]]
The city of Corona has been popular among celebrities drawn to its upscale areas and relative privacy compared to Los Angeles. [[Lucille Ball]] and [[Desi Arnaz]] spent time at their ranch, located in north Corona, and played golf often at the Cresta Verde Golf Course in the northeastern section of the city.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://outsider.com/news/entertainment/i-love-lucy-desi-arnaz-lucille-ball-once-built-home-golf-course-money-won-poker-game/|title='I Love Lucy': Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball Once Built Home on Golf Course with Money He Won in Poker Game|magazine=[[The Outsider (magazine)|The Outsider]]|date=March 2, 2021|author=Joe Rutland}}</ref> After their divorce, Arnaz continued to live in Corona.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.pe.com/2012/03/24/eastvale-a-rebirth-for-the-desi-arnaz-house/|title=EASTVALE: A rebirth for the Desi Arnaz house|newspaper=The Press-Enterprise|date=March 24, 2012|author=Sandra Stokley}}</ref>

In recent years Corona has been known as the "Gateway to the [[Inland Empire (California)|Inland Empire]]".<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 22, 2015 |title=Six Reasons To Visit Corona - CBS Los Angeles |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/six-reasons-to-visit-corona/ |access-date=December 30, 2023 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> In April 1980 David Felix became Corona's first Hispanic Mayor.<ref>History of Corona | City of Corona, www.coronaca.gov/government/departments-divisions/library-recreation-services/library/heritage-room/history-of-corona. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.</ref> Main Street Realtors wrote, "Prior to the 1980s, the city was largely an agricultural community, dominated by citrus orchards, ranches, and [[dairy]] farms. High real estate prices in [[Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles]] and [[Orange County, California|Orange]] counties made the area's land desirable to developers and industrialists, and by the late 1990s Corona was considered a major [[suburb]] of [[Los Angeles]]."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Corona |url=https://www.mainstreetgroup.com/guide/corona/ |access-date=December 30, 2023 |website=Inland Empire & Orange County Real Estate {{!}} Mainstreet Realtors |language=en-US}}</ref>

===21st century===
In 2002, the city government considered an initiative to secede from Riverside County and form an autonomous Corona County because the city government and some residents were dissatisfied with how services were handled in nearby areas. The effort was also considered by areas in other cities in the western part of the county as far south as [[Murrieta, California|Murrieta]]. Whether nearby cities such as [[Norco, California|Norco]] would have been included in the new county are unknown. The proposed county would have been bordered by [[San Bernardino County, California|San Bernardino County]] to the northwest and by [[Orange County, California|Orange County]] to the west, but it never came to fruition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspress.com/northsouth/greatdivide.html|title=Santa Barbara News Press article on the county split proposal, with a brief mention of the proposed Corona County.}}</ref>