Today's Palmdale has its roots in two small, early communities: HAROLD (Alpine Station) and PALMENTHAL.

HAROLD was a natural location for a community because it was at the crossroads of the two major routes on the Valley floor: the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks and Fort Tejon Road (now Barrel Springs Road). At that time there were only four roads in the Valley: Soledad, Mojave, San Francisquito Canyon, and Fort Tejon Roads. Fort Tejon was a military road, and was used by stage coaches going from San Bernardino to northern points. It followed the foothills of the San Gabriels because water was more readily available there than on the Valley floor. Harold had its own well and natural spring.

The community of Harold had three names (Harold, Alpine Station and Trejo Post Office) and five buildings in the early 1 890s. It was mainly populated by railroad employees and Chinese laborers of the railroad. Harold was located at what is now the intersection of Barrel Springs Road and Sierra Highway.

In the late 1890s, Harold was reduced to a few residents when the railroad decided to build a larger station for its booster engines. Booster engines were needed to get the train over the San Gabriel Mountains, and they needed to be started on flat land. Harold was not flat, and so the new station was built a short distance north of Harold, at what is now central Palmdale.

As the story goes, PALMENTHAL came to be in 1886, when between 50 & 60 families of Swiss and German descent, predominantly from Nebraska and Illinois, were moving westward to California. They had been told that when they saw Palm trees, they would be very close to the Pacific Ocean. As they came to the Antelope Valley and saw our Joshua trees, they mistook them for Palm trees. The families settled here and called their new town Palmenthal.

The original settlement of Palmenthal was located about 3 miles southeast of the present Civic Center, at R­8 and 27th Street East. It was a thriving community by all accounts, and consisted of a livery stable, blacksmith shop, shoe shop, church, many fine houses, a school, and a general store. Palmenthal became the official name of the town when a post office was established in the general store owned by John Munz, on June 17, 1888.

The 1890s were a decade of boom and bust. Lured by the promise of cheap land and good living, Palmenthal's settlers came west to grow grain and fruit. Those early years were wet ones, and the land seekers were successful. But during the coming dry years, agriculture failed. The early settlers were ignorant of farming in an arid climate, and many also found themselves victims of promoter's scams when they couldn't get clear titles to their land. In these early years, many homesteads were abandoned.

By 1899, because of the drought and their land deed problems, all but one family had moved away. Their deserted homes were eventually carried off piece by piece for the wood and other building needs. Some of the buildings were moved to the new Palmdale to serve as places of business by those settlers who chose to move closer to the railroad station. Other old Palmenthal settlers moved to Leona Valley and other local areas where water was more plentiful.

The post office was discontinued in Palmenthal and moved to the new townsite around the railroad station. Most of the new town was located about 8th Street East between Q­7 and Palmdale Boulevard. In 1899, the community, now relocated in the heart of present­day Palmdale, changed it's name to Palmdale.

So this is how Palmdale came to be: Palmenthal and Harold both came to be abandoned and both settlements relocated to the center of the new city of Palmdale, by the new Southern Pacific railroad station. This site was also closer to the stage coach line that ran from San Francisco to New Orleans.

Of Palmenthal, the only evidence of its existence is the old cemetery on 20th Street East, north of Avenue S, and the old schoolhouse, located now in McAdam Park. As for Harold, a mobile home park now stands on its location. The park is called Alpine Springs, and the surrounding streets in the area are named Harold Second, Harold Third, Harold Beech, etc. ­ an obscure reminder of Palmdale's humble beginnings.

Although the settlers learned of irrigation and other dry farming methods, Water was to remain a problem. With the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1914, however and the availability of electricity, agriculture took hold and became the primary means of livelihood in the area.

Palmdale's population began to steadily increase. Irrigated lands in the Valley increased from 5,000 acres in 1910, to 11,900 in 1919. Alfalfa, pears and apples became staple crops in the area.

The main road through town was called Mint Canyon. Paving was completed in 1921, and its name was changed to Sierra Highway. Sierra Highway was the Valley's first viable and convenient link to Los Angeles.

Agriculture remained the primary industry of the Antelope Valley until World War 11. After World War 11, Palmdale grew as a center for aerospace and defense industries with the establishment of Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County and U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.

The U.S. Air Force Plant 42 has become noted as the home of the B­ I and B­2 bombers and the Space Shuttle. Palmdale has often been referred to as the Aerospace Capitol of the United States, with Rockwell, Northrop, Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas maintaining production facilities at Plant 42. The Federal Aviation Administration's Air Route Traffic Control Center, which handles air traffic for the Western Region of the United States, is also located in Palmdale. With the development of the Palmdale Regional Airport, the possibility of a bullet train linking Palmdale to Los Angeles International Airport, and the relocation of Lockheed's secret research facilities to Palmdale, Palmdale's future in aerospace seems assured.

When Palmdale incorporated in 1962, it had a land area of 2.1 square miles. By 1965, there were 22.4 square miles within the city limits, and by 1983, Palmdale had grown to 45 square miles and had 130 additional square miles in its planning area.

Growth has been phenomenal over the past decade, such that Palmdale was the fastest growing city in the state for the decade, climbing 573% from a population of 12,227 in 1980 to 68,842 in 1990. The vast majority of Palmdale's land is vacant (75%), providing space for continued growth and development in the future.

This recent record­breaking population growth is not so much related to industrial growth as it is to the availability of affordable housing. Palmdale has become a 'bedroom' community, with an increasing number of residents commuting to the Los Angeles area to work.

Although the aerospace industry remains the area's largest source of employment, both Palmdale and Lancaster are trying to entice industry and jobs into the area. The opening of the Antelope Valley Mall in September of 1990 heralded dynamic growth in retail sector employment. Increased population in the last decade provides a vast labor force available to employers, and will undoubtedly attract more and more companies, thus broadening the area's economic base. Planning directors for the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster expect a combined population of half a million by the year 2010. A jobs­housing balance will be the focus so that people who live here will also be able to work here.