About Colton

Colton is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The city is located in the Inland Empire region of the state and is approximately 57 miles east of Los Angeles. The population of Colton is 52,154 according to the 2010 census, up from 47,662 at the 2000 census.

Colton is the site of Colton Crossing, one of the busiest at-grade railroad crossings in the United States. This crossing is currently being replaced by a fly-over that will raise the east–west Union Pacific tracks over the north–south Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks. The Union Pacific's "Sunset Route" and the BNSF's "Southern Transcontinental Route" cross at this point. As traffic on each line has soared since the mid-1990s, fueled largely by the vast increase in imports passing through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the primitive crossing has become a serious bottleneck. The crossing was installed in 1882 by the California Southern Railroad to cross the Southern Pacific Railroad’s tracks while building northward from San Diego.

Colton was founded in 1875 and incorporated in 1887 but before its establishment, it was inhabited by the Serrano, Guachama, and San Gorgonio Indians. During the Mission Era the Mission San Gabriel established a Spanish settlement Politana in 1810, just northeast of what is now Colton. By 1840, Colton was part of two private ranchos, Jurupa and San Bernardino Rancho. From southwest area of modern-day Colton was known as "Agua Mansa" (Gentle Waters). It had been settled by New Mexico pioneers in 1842. What is currently known as Cooley Ranch was known as Indian Knolls for nearly 100 years. This is because the Indians living in what is now the San Bernardino Valley found refuge on the knolls of the property during the flood of 1862. The original owner of the property was George Cooley of Kent, England who had moved to Colton in 1853 and who purchased 200 acres at $3.50 an acre along the Santa Ana River the next year. Cooley was chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in San Bernardino County. By 1873, the property had mushroomed into a 400-acre property. Eventually, when property taxes had increased, the property was sold to Vitelli Enterprises of La Habra. The city was named after David Duty Colton who had been a Brigadier General of the California State Militia in 1855, prior to the Civil War. He was later the Vice President of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.

Colton was created in its modern form when the Southern Pacific Railway was built heading east from Los Angeles in 1875.

Virgil Earp lived in Colton at 528 West "H" Street where he was the town's first marshal. He resided in Colton from 1883 to 1889. Morgan Earp is buried at Hermosa Cemetery.