Editing Hemet, California (section)

===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]]