About Indian Wells

Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area), in between Palm Desert and La Quinta. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,958.

The city hosts the Indian Wells Masters—now known by its current sponsorship name of BNP Paribas Open—one of the nine tournaments in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of high-level events operated by the Association of Tennis Professionals and one of the four WTA Premier Tournaments tournament of the Women's Tennis Association. The event is held in the 16,100-seat stadium of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

As early as 1853, the area now known as Indian Wells was the site of a thriving Indian village, as reported by W.P. Blade, a Smithsonian Institution geologist. A decade later, when gold was discovered on the Colorado River, William D. Bradshaw built a trail from Los Angeles through the desert to the gold mines. The Alexander and Company Stage Line used the trail to transport prospectors and Indian Wells became an important stop along the trail. The route was abandoned in 1875 because of competition from the Southern Pacific Railroad, but in 1876 was reactivated by the Wells Fargo Company.

Over the next decades, settlers gradually arrived in the area and date ranches became profitable. In the 1950s, the first golf courses were opened at the Eldorado Country Club and the Indian Wells Country Club. In 1957, Desi Arnaz opened his Indian Wells Hotel (forerunner to the Indian Wells Resort Hotel). In 1960, Arnold Palmer won the first Bob Hope Desert Classic golf tournament. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a regular Indian Wells visitor and later an Eldorado homeowner.

In an election held June 27, 1967, to avoid being annexed by neighboring cities such as Palm Desert, the inhabitants of Indian Wells voted to incorporate as a city. On July 14, 1967, Indian Wells became California's 400th city and the 16th in Riverside County. Its first mayor was Pete Peterson. Since then, Indian Wells has continued to grow, with the development of resort hotels, golf courses and luxury residential areas.