Chapter 3: Residential Development

Pasadena was incorporated as a city in 1886 and experienced a population and real estate boom spurred by the extension of railroad service from Los Angeles in 1888. By the turn of the 20th century, Pasadena was a bustling center of tourism, with a growing population of permanent residents as well as seasonal visitors and health seekers from the East Coast and Midwest. Between 1900 and 1910, more than 300 residential tracts were recorded, and along with mansions for the elite, grew neighborhoods replete with cottages and bungalows for the working class.

Development patterns in the 1920s followed those throughout Southern California during the period after World War I, with exponential population growth, the transformation of the built environment, and the development of previously unused land thanks to the prevalence of the automobile. Following the United States entry into World War II, in April 1942 the War Production Board prohibited nonessential construction to conserve both labor and building materials for the military defense purposes.

After this general moratorium on residential construction ended following the conclusion of the war, immediate postwar development was characterized by a period of prosperity and growth throughout Southern California, including Pasadena. Development during this period was primarily infill in existing neighborhoods, however, the last and largest new residential subdivision was recorded in 1948.

In the 1960s and 1970s, expansion of the freeway system and large-scale redevelopment projects would displace communities and bifurcate the city.