Baldwin Park is a city located in the central San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 75,837.
Baldwin Park began as part of cattle grazing land belonging to the San Gabriel Mission. It eventually became part of the Rancho Azusa de Dalton and the Rancho La Puente properties. The community became known as Vineland in 1880. By 1906 it changed to Baldwin Park. It was named after Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin. In 1956 Baldwin Park became the 47th incorporated city in the State of California. The city has one of the lowest crime rates per capita in the general Los Angeles region. Currently the city is pushing to revitalize its economic base. There are six active Project Redevelopment Areas located in strategic areas of the city.
Projects within these redevelopment areas are as diverse, including high-quality senior housing, Home Depot, Starbucks, Harley Davidson, a transit oriented district (TOD) near the Metrolink Train Station and various other thriving businesses. Baldwin Park is home to the first In-N-Out burger stand, the first drive-thru in California, which closed in 2004 and will soon be converted into a museum. The previous In-N-Out has been replaced with a new one, in which the museum is still being constructed on Francisquito Avenue. As of September 1882, the first school house was built on the southeast corner of North Maine and Los Angeles Avenues in 1884. It contained two rows of double seats, a central aisle leading to the teacher's desk, and a heating stove at the north end. Mr. Frazier was the first teacher. In April 1888, The Vineland School District was established according to county records.
The first Board of Trustees took office on July 1, 1888, and elected Miss Jessie Washburn to teach the district school that fall. The building was sold in 1890 and moved to another site for a private residence. The district built the second school in 1890 and hired two teachers, Miss Ellen Lang and Miss Venna O. Finney. The second school house was relegated to the past in 1912. It later became a private Japanese school and stood as a landmark until it caught fire on September 5, 1936, and burned to the ground. Today, the Baldwin Park Unified School District lies contiguously with the city's borders. There are 23 schools within this district. The budget is well over $100 million. Currently the district is building new school structures to accommodate growth. The district is adopting data driven strategies to help students achieve better scores in the API tests. There is an active push by the district to hire new teachers while providing retirement incentives for teachers who wish to retire.
In summer 2005, Save Our State, an anti-illegal immigration group based in Ventura, launched a series of protests against the installation at the Baldwin Park Metrolink station of an artwork that allegedly contained anti-Anglo overtones. At issue was an inscription--It was better before they came--that Save Our State claimed was discriminatory toward Caucasians. In fact, the inscription is a quote uttered by a white Baldwin Park resident in the 1950s, lamenting the influx of persons of Mexican ancestry into the San Gabriel Valley following World War II. Save Our State's founder Joseph Turner has publicly vowed to continue the protests, which have drawn enormous numbers of counter-protesters and required considerable expenditures on crowd control and riot police, until Baldwin Park's city treasury is sufficiently depleted as to force it to remove the art installation.
Baldwin Park is located at 34°4'58" North, 117°58'18" West (34.082809, -117.971677).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.6 km2 (6.8 mi2). 17.2 km2 (6.7 mi2) of it is land and 0.3 km2 (0.1 mi2) of it is water. The total area is 1.91% water.
As of the census of 2000, there are 75,837 people, 16,961 households, and 15,061 families residing in the city. The population density is 4,396.5/km2 (11,379.2/mi2). There are 17,430 housing units at an average density of 1,010.5/km2 (2,615.3/mi². The racial makeup of the city is 40.18% White, 1.61% Black or African American, 1.45% Native American, 11.64% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 40.51% from other races, and 4.48% from two or more races. 78.67% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 16,961 households out of which 55.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.8% are married couples living together, 17.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 11.2% are non-families. 8.1% of all households are made up of individuals and 3.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 4.44 and the average family size is 4.53.
In the city the population is spread out with 34.9% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 16.4% from 45 to 64, and 6.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 27 years. For every 100 females there are 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 97.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $41,629, and the median income for a family is $41,256. Males have a median income of $26,873 versus $22,186 for females. The per capita income for the city is $11,562. 18.2% of the population and 15.4% of families are below the poverty line. 21.8% of those under the age of 18 and 12.8% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Source:
BaldwinParkCalifornia.com
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