Rowland Heights is not a city.  It is an unincorporated community of Los Angeles County, and is situated on the land formerly known as La Puente Rancho, a grant of nearly 49,000 acres awarded to American settlers John Rowland and William Workman, by the Mexican government in 1842. In 1851 the two men agreed to split the rancho lands between themselves, with Rowland taking possession of the 29,000 acres to the east and Workman the remaining lands to the west. Prior to 1960 the land was mostly agricultural and dotted with thousands of walnut, avocado, and citrus trees. Oil was discovered in the hills surrounding the community in 1884 and for the next 40 years the Puente Oil Company and its successors supplied oil to the Los Angeles Cable Railway and a beet sugar refinery in Chino. Beginning in 1960 the area began to change.  Water led the way, then streets and eventually, the 60 Freeway.  Farms eventually gave way to housing tracts and the population grew from about 4,500 in 1960, to approximately 60,000 today. We now live in one of the most culturally diverse communities in Southern California.