Chino, California
City
Seal
Location of Chino in San Bernardino County, California
Chino, California Location in Greater Los Angeles Show map of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Chino, California Location in California Show map of California Chino, California Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 34°1′4″N 117°41′24″W / 34.01778°N 117.69000°W / 34.01778; -117.69000
Country	United States
State	California
County	San Bernardino
Incorporated	February 28, 1910[1]
Named for	Rancho Santa Ana del Chino
Government
• Type	Council–manager
• City council[3]	Mayor Eunice M. Ulloa Mayor Pro Tem Karen Comstock Curtis Burton Christopher Flores Marc Lucio
• City manager	Dr. Linda Reich[2]
Area [4]
• Total	29.70 sq mi (76.93 km2)
• Land	29.61 sq mi (76.68 km2)
• Water	0.10 sq mi (0.25 km2)  0.04%
Elevation [5]	728 ft (222 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	91,403
• Estimate  (2021)[6]	92,975
• Rank	82nd in California
• Density	3,087.42/sq mi (1,192.05/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP codes	91708, 91710
Area code	909
FIPS code	06-13210
GNIS feature IDs	1660477, 2409453
Website	www.cityofchino.org

Chino (/ˈtʃiːnoʊ/ CHEE-noh; Spanish for "Curly")^[7] is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region.

Chino's surroundings have long been a center of agriculture and dairy farming, providing milk products in Southern California and much of the southwestern United States. Chino's agricultural history dates back to the Spanish land grant forming Rancho Santa Ana del Chino. The area specialized in fruit orchards, row crops, and dairy.

Chino is bounded by Chino Hills and Los Angeles County to the west, Pomona to the northwest, unincorporated San Bernardino County (near Montclair) to the north, including the unincorporated community of Narod, Ontario to the northeast, Eastvale to the southeast in Riverside County and Orange County to the southwest. It is easily accessible via the Chino Valley (71) and Pomona (60) freeways. The population was 91,403 at the 2020 census.^[8]

Etymology

The land grant on which the town was founded was called Rancho Santa Ana del Chino. Santa Ana is Spanish for Saint Anne, but the exact meaning of "Chino" has been explained in different ways.^[7] One explanation is that the "Chino" (curly-haired person or mixed-race person) was the chief of the local Native American village.^[9] The president of the Chino Valley Historical Society, drawing on Civil War-era letters, designates the "curl" referenced in the toponym as that at the top of the grama grass that abounded in the valley.^[10]

History

The Tongva had a settlement called Wapijangna in the Santa Ana River watershed. Some residents of Wapijanga were baptized at Mission San Gabriel, which was established in 1771. The Spanish crown claimed the land until Mexican independence was finalized and possession fell to the Mexican government.

Some twenty years later, Mexican governor of Alta California Juan Bautista Alvarado granted Rancho Santa Ana del Chino to Antonio Maria Lugo of the Lugo family. Two years later, his successor, Governor Micheltorena, granted an additional three leagues to Lugo's son-in-law Isaac Williams, who took charge of the rancho. Williams kept large quantities of horses and cattle, which attracted the envy of raiding Native Americans as well as unscrupulous whites. One of the latter was James Beckwourth, who, in 1840, posed as an otter hunter and stayed at Rancho Chino to determine the location of the area's animals, which he then reported to Walkara, the Ute mastermind of the raids.

Early in the Mexican–American War, the Battle of Chino took place at Williams' rancho.^[11] The battle ended prior to the arrival of the Mormon Battalion, dispatched on behalf of the United States, who instead labored in the rancho's agricultural harvest and constructed a grist mill.

During the California Gold Rush, the rancho was a popular stopover for travelers, and in the mining fury, coal was discovered there. In 1850, California was admitted to the union, and the process of separating privately held lands from the public domain began. The Williams claim to the Chino Rancho was patented in 1869.

Richard Gird was the next owner of the Rancho. Beginning in 1887, his land was subdivided and laid out. It became the "Town of Chino", and incorporated into a city in 1910.^[12] Sugar beets, corn, and alfalfa were raised there.

The Chino Valley, located at the foot of an alluvial plain with fertile topsoil reaching depths of 4 feet (1.2 m), was an agricultural mecca from the 1890s up through the mid-20th century. Sugar beets were a significant part of the economy in the early 1900s, followed by sweet corn (marketed as "Chino corn" throughout the Pacific coast area), peaches, walnuts, tomatoes, and strawberries. The city's official logo/crest features an overflowing cornucopia.

The dairy industry flourished from the 1950s through the 1980s, with dairy-friendly zoning in the southwest corner of San Bernardino County encouraging many ethnic Dutch families to locate there and become the cornerstone of the industry. Chino's large, highly efficient dairies made it the largest milk-producing community in the nation's largest milk-producing state.

Because of its pastoral setting and rural flavor, Chino was a popular site for Hollywood crews to shoot "Midwestern" settings. 1960s movies included Bus Riley's Back in Town starring Ann-Margret and Michael Parks;^[13] The Stripper, with Joanne Woodward; and the mid-1960s TV series Twelve O'Clock High, refashioning Chino's rural airport into a British airfield with quonset huts among farm fields.^[14]

In the 1970s, Chino developed into a small suburban city, forming the western anchor of the Inland Empire region, and now the city's development has gradually taken on a more middle-class character. There are still many industrial areas as well as farm animals such as goats and chickens. According to the 2004 FBI UCR, the city had about 3.6 violent crimes per 1,000 population, which is typical for an American suburb, and its property crime below average.

On July 11, 2017, in a special election, Chino voters voted against Measure H, which would have allowed 30 acres (12 ha) of rural land located near Ontario to be used to build a total of 180 new homes by home builder D.R. Horton.^[15] The measure faced considerable opposition from city residents, despite support from the Chino Chamber of Commerce and school district.

Economy

Top employers

According to the city's 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,^[16] the top employers in the city are:

Two California state prisons for adults (California Institution for Men and California Institution for Women^[17]), as well as the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility, lie within the city limits.^[18]

Education

Chino is a part of the Chino Valley Unified School District.

Elementary schools

Chino has had 11 elementary schools:

• El Rancho Elementary (closed in 2008–2009 school year^[19])
• Alicia Cortez Elementary
• Newman Elementary
• E.J. Marshall Elementary
• Dickson Elementary
• Anna Borba Fundamental
• Howard Cattle Elementary
• Richard Gird Elementary (closed in 2008–2009 school year^[20])
• Edwin Rhodes Elementary
• Walnut Avenue Elementary
• Liberty Elementary

Junior High Schools

Chino has four junior high schools:

• Briggs Junior High School
• Ramona Junior High School
• Magnolia Junior High School
• Woodcrest Junior High School

High schools

Chino has three high schools:

• Don Lugo High School
• Buena Vista High School
• Chino High School

Charter Schools

Chino has one charter school:

• Oxford Preparatory Academy (Closed)
• Allegiance STEAM Academy

K-8 Schools

Chino has three K-8 schools:

• Lyle S. Briggs Fundamental School
• Cal Aero Preserve Academy
• Legacy Academy (opening in 2024-2025 school year)

Chino is serviced by a satellite center of Chaffey College, a community college.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 29.7 square miles (77 km²). 29.6 square miles (77 km²) of it is land and 0.04% is water.

• Chino is a suburb in San Bernardino County, located 33 miles (53 km) from the county seat, San Bernardino.
• Los Angeles, 35 miles (56 km)
• Riverside, 26 miles (42 km)
• Santa Ana, 30 miles (48 km)
• Anaheim, 24 miles (39 km)

Climate

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Chino has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps.^[21] Chino has long, hot summers with cool to mild mornings and short, mild, and wet winters with chilly mornings usually in the 40s. Precipitation peaks during the month of February.

Demographics

2020