Historical Timeline
1776: Spanish missionary Francisco Garcés passed through the area during the Juan Bautista de Anza expedition. He camped at Castle Butte, not far from where California City now stands.
Late 1800s: The land that would eventually become California City was part of the route used by borax freighters. The famous Twenty-Mule Team wagons passed through here, hauling borax to railheads in Mojave.
1944–1959: During and after World War II, the U.S. military used this desert as a training ground known as the Mojave Gunnery Range “C.” Pilots practiced bombing and strafing runs over the wide open landscape.
1958: Nat Mendelsohn, a sociology professor and developer, bought 82,000 acres of Mojave Desert with a bold dream — to build a new city to rival Los Angeles. He laid out roads, parks, and even a man-made lake, hoping it would grow fast.
1960: A post office opened, a small but important step in turning Mendelsohn’s desert dream into a real town.
1965: California City was officially incorporated on December 10. It had fewer than 1,000 residents but plenty of ambition, with big streets laid out for a population that hadn’t arrived yet.
1969: Population growth stalled, and some of the early promises hadn’t been delivered. The Federal Trade Commission stepped in to investigate claims that land sales and marketing had been misleading.
1977: A major settlement forced the development company to repay over 14,000 landowners and build infrastructure that had been promised. At the time, it was the largest FTC case of its kind.
1999: A large correctional facility was built in California City. It was first used for federal inmates and later leased to the state of California as part of a broader prison reform effort.
2013: The state leased the prison for $28.5 million a year to help relieve overcrowding in its correctional system. It brought jobs but also sparked debate about the city’s economic direction.
2016: California City took a step into the cannabis economy by becoming the first in Kern County to allow large-scale commercial marijuana cultivation. It was an effort to create a new revenue stream.
2023: The correctional facility was shut down when the state ended its lease, leaving behind questions about the city’s next economic chapter.
Present Day: California City is still one of the largest cities in California by land area, but its population remains modest. It’s a place of wide streets, open skies, and dreams that haven’t quite caught up with the map. Locals work in industries tied to nearby Edwards Air Force Base, the Mojave Air and Space Port, and growing regional industries.