About Vista

Vista is a city in Southern California and is located in northern western San Diego County. Vista is a medium sized city within the San Diego Metropolitan Area and had a population of 93,834 at the 2010 census. Vista also includes portions of unincorporated San Diego County to north and east, with a county island in the central west, which is within its sphere of influence. Located just seven miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, it has a Mediterranean climate.

Originally the lands of Rancho Buena Vista, Vista was founded on October 9, 1882 with an establishment of a post office. It was incorporated January 28, 1963 and became a charter city on June 13, 2007.

Vista has more than 25 educational institutions for youth, and a business park home to over 800 companies. Vista was listed as the seventh-best place in the United States for family life, based on factors such as jobs and business opportunities, education, climate, and cost-of-living in a 2008 review.

The Vista area was originally inhabited the Luiseño Indians, who lived on the land until the founding of the San Luis Rey Mission in 1798. The prosperity of the mission-era declined by the 1830s with the independence of Mexico from Spain. The Mexican government began to grant land ownerships to a variety of people, thus beginning the Rancho era of California. Three ranchos were granted in the Vista area: Rancho Guajome, Rancho Buena Vista, and Agua Hedionda Y los Manos.

In the 1850s the ranchos began to fade due to changing political conditions and the scarcity of water. A growing number of settlers came to the area after California became a state in 1850 and began to create smaller agricultural holdings. One settler in the Vista area, John Frazier, applied to open the first post office and after several attempts to name the city (Frazier’s Crossing and Buena Vista were already taken), Frazier finally chose the name “Vista”. With the opening of the first post office in 1882, Vista had officially arrived.

Inhibited by the lack of water, Vista grew slowly through the early 1910s to less than 1,000 people. With the vote of the people in 1923, the Vista Irrigation District had the necessary funding to construct a new water supply from Lake Henshaw. New buildings in downtown sprang up almost immediately. Agriculture began to flourish with crops such as tomatoes, celery, and citrus fruits. Some hillsides were also planted for avocados and by 1948, the Vista became the "avocado capital of the world"

Following World War II, agriculture declined with an influx of growth of population and housing. The City of Vista was incorporated on January 23, 1963.