El Monte — First Southern California Settlement by Immigrants from United States

Wagon parties out of Texas and Arkansas settled the willow bottoms along the San Gabriel River early in the 1850s, the first town in Southern California founded by citizens of the United States. Read the plaque closely and it hedges: some began to call this the End of the Santa Fe Trail. The state commission that approved the landmark in 1987 noted that the trail ends in New Mexico, some eight hundred miles east. The city kept it in the logo.

What the plaque says

El Monte, on the bank of the San Gabriel River, played a significant part in California's early pioneer history. It was first an encampment on the Old Spanish Trail, an extension of the trail from Missouri to Santa Fe. By the 1850's some began to call El Monte the "End of the Santa Fe Trail." Early in that decade a permanent settlement was esablished here by immigrants from Texas. The first settlement in Southern California founded by citizens of the United States. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 975.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 4.0 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
• Colorado Street Bridge — 8.5 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Santa Monica Pier — 26 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.

More markers nearby

• Savannah Memorial Park — 1.5 mi
• Site of Mission Vieja — 3.5 mi
• Mission San Gabriel Arcángel — 4.0 mi
• The Ortega-Vigare Adobe — 4.0 mi