Palmdale, California

Palmdale is a city of 152,622 people (as of 2009) in the northern part of Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. The urban area has a size of 272.2 km². The city is located in the semi-desert Antelope Valley and is separated from the Los Angeles metropolitan area by the San Gabriel Mountains.

Palmdale was founded in 1886 by German and Swiss settlers under the name Palmenthal. In 1962, Palmdale was granted city charter. The city has very good traffic connections through the Antelope Valley Freeway to Los Angeles and Reno, Nevada and through the State Highways 18 and 138 as well as various expressways and freeways. Palmdale will also be the future stop for trains on California's planned high-speed rail network.

To improve medical care for the growing city, Palmdale Regional Medical Center, a regional care hospital, opened in 2010.

Palmdale calls itself the aerospace capital of the United States. This is justified by the fact that the research, development, final assembly, testing and modification of many well-known aerospace projects took place here. Much of this activity takes place at U.S. Air Force Plant 42, where the Northrop B-2 stealth bomber was first introduced on November 22, 1988. Since the late 1980s, Site 10 of the facility has been home to the Lockheed Advanced Development Projects Unit (also known as Skunk Works).

Palmdale is one of the 25 fastest growing cities in the US, in 1980 the city had just 12,000 residents. Palmdale is the largest desert city in California.

History

Palmenthal was founded in 1886 by settlers from the American Midwest of German and Swiss descent. They mistook the locally common plant Joshua palm lily for palms, and so the settlement was named accordingly. According to David L. Durham, Joshua palm lilies are called yucca palms, and that was the reason for the naming. The town was officially incorporated on June 17, 1888.

Palmdale's first newspaper, the Palmdale Post was published in 1915. In 1921, the first major connection between the city and Los Angeles was established, Mint Canyon/Lancaster Road, which later became US Route 6. Today, this road is known as the Sierra Highway. In 1924, Harold Reservoir, now Palmdale Lake, was constructed. Until the outbreak of World War II, agriculture was the largest industry in Palmdale. By 1933, the U.S. government had established Muroc Air Base (now known as Edwards Air Force Base) 10 km north of Lancaster. In 1957, Palmdale's first high school, Palmdale High School was established. In 1964, the Antelope Valley Freeway was completed as a link between Palmdale and Los Angeles. In 1977, the first municipal building, the Palmdale City Library was constructed. In 1980, the city had a population of 12,227.

Medical facilities

A university medical facility, Palmdale Regional Medical Center, was completed in 2010.