The early years of North County are marked by its ranches and missions, many of which still stand today. When the California Southern Railway, a branch of the Santa Fe, arrived with stations in Oceanside, Fallbrook and Temecula, the region began to grow and prosper.

Horton, Spreckels, Kettner, Scripps and Hahn. Names like these shaped central San Diego and are still recognized today. And as today’s leaders and developers look back after decades of expansion, neighborhoods from La Jolla to Mission Valley to East Village are becoming denser with the helping hand of mixed-use development.

South County has always been a vibrant region rich with culture. The area hit the ground running with the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1880s and never looked back. The Sweetwater Dam and a luxury resort called the Hotel del Coronado soon followed, and people flocked to the region filled with the promise of opportunity.

The buying and selling of land, as well as the discovery of gold shaped the early years of East County. Soon after, water and the railroad arrived, and the land boom really took off.