The Santa Fe Railroad laid tracks from the east and the west beneath the southern slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains in 1887, meeting in San Dimas and opening the area to more than sparse settlement. The Rancho San Jose formerly included San Dimas in a Spanish land grant of 23,000 acres, given in 1837 to Don Ygnacio Palomares and Don Ricardo Vejar by the king of Spain. The new town became integral to the huge citrus industry that stretched for 65...