Temple City Map
Temple City is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Temple City is part of a cluster of cities, along with Arcadia, Rosemead, Monterey Park, San Marino, and San Gabriel, in the west San Gabriel Valley with a rapidly growing Asian population. Temple City also has a Cuban and Puerto Rican community, among other Latino nationalities. The population was 35,558 at the 2010 census.
The town of Temple was originated on May 30, 1923 when Walter P. Temple (June 7, 1870 - November 13, 1938), (Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum) purchased 400 acres (2 km2) of land four miles (6 km) east of San Gabriel which had been part of Lucky Baldwin's Rancho Santa Anita. Temple, the son and tenth child of Pliny Fisk Temple and William Workman's daughter Antonia Margarita Workman, was born on Rancho La Merced, which is today part of the city of Montebello. This was the site of the original San Gabriel Mission, founded by the Franciscan Fathers next to the rich bottom lands of the San Gabriel River. Historically called “Rio de los Temblores”, which means the River of the Earthquakes, it is today known as the Santa Ana. (Incorrect. These are two separate streams. The Santa Ana River rises in the mountains above San Bernardino and flows through Santa Ana Canyon, thence across central Orange County, reaching the sea at Newport. The San Gabriel reaches the sea along the boundary between Los Angeles and Orange counties at the east end of Long Beach. -RC)
Temple envisioned building a community where average people could afford to live and own their homes. He then divided the area into lots and laid out the park facing Las Tunas Drive. He named other streets after friends and family: Workman, Kauffman, Temple and Agnes. Bond issues initiated by Temple were responsible for street paving and electricity. Temple also petitioned the Pacific Electric Railway Company to extend its Los Angeles to Alhambra line to a depot adjacent to Temple City Park. The extension of the railway contributed to the steady growth of Temple City.
Nearby cities include Maywood, Bell Gardens, Glendale, Los Angeles, Santa Fe Springs.