Yucaipa evolved from being a Native American village to a city where agriculture thrived, and where two brothers, Cleo and Leo Stater, turned $600 into a booming grocery store business.
Yucaipa gets its name from the Serrano village of Yukaipa’t, which means wetlands. During the Spanish colonial period, the Lugo family land grant included the San Bernardino Valley and extended into Yucaipa. One year after California became the 31st state, Mormon settlers from Utah bought the Lugo Rancho, which included lower Yucaipa, and subdivided the land so it could be sold.
In 1910, the Redlands & Yucaipa Land Company bought 11,000 acres of land in Yucaipa and subdivided it. Their plan was to create a small town surrounded by small farms, ranging from 5 to 20 acres.
For the next 50 years, Yucaipa served as the fruit basket of Southern California with apples, peaches, plums and walnut farms thriving throughout the region. Yucaipa also became the birthplace of one of Southern California’s most famous grocery store chains.
During the Great Depression, twin brothers Cleo and Leo Stater purchased a market in Yucaipa with a down payment of $600. During World War II, the Stater brothers served as pilots in the Army Air Corps, while their parents kept the markets running. The company expanded into a chain of over 150 supermarkets, known as Stater Bros. Markets.
After World War II, Yucaipa also underwent some major changes. Fruit production diminished, and many of the former orchards were repurposed for trailer parks, chicken ranches and small housing tracts. By 1960, there were 50 mobile home estates, and Yucaipa became a retirement destination for many.
In 1972, Crafton Hills College was established, which contributed to the city’s growth. On Nov. 27, 1989, the city of Yucaipa was officially incorporated, and is now home to over 53,000 people.
The information in this historical feature was originally part of a video series produced by the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk’s office.
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