Ontario California History
In the geographic area where the city of Ontario can be found, Indians used to own lands where they foraged and hunted. This Indian tribe was called Tongva Serrano.
Since the land holdings of California were secularized in 1834, the land was transferred to private ownership. The Chaffey brother bought this land and its water rights in 1881, creating a drainage system which channeled the water from the Mount Baldy foothills to the flat lands located below. This way the farmers could water crops and the floods were prevented from happening. The Model Colony which was started here had some clauses which didn’t allow for the sale or manufacturing of alcohol inside the town. The Chaffey brothers decided to name this town Ontario, since their origins were from the Canadian province of Ontario.
Most people that arrived to Ontario were either farmers which grew citrus and Eastern people which were looking for a dry climate. To make sure that the visitors and future settlers were impressed with the water abundance in the area, they installed a fountain in the railway station of Southern Pacific. The fountain was started when trains were coming and switched off when the trains left. The first fountain which was simple was later replaced with the Frankish Fountain, which was more ornate and in an Art Nouveau style. Currently, it is located near the History and Art Museum of Ontario.
The incorporation of the city of Ontario was done in 1891 and in 1906 North Ontario became Upland, after it broke away. The city of Ontario grew quickly after that, increasing ten fold in just fifty years. From the 20,000 people of that time, the population grew to again ten times by 2007. Its history has many European immigrants coming to work as farmers here, and in the beginning of the 20th century the first farm workers from Japan and Philippines came here.