Ontario

Ontario is a city in western San Bernardino County, California, in the Inland Empire east of Los Angeles. The Canadian brothers George and William Chaffey founded it in 1882 as a model irrigation colony and named it after their home province.

The Chaffeys sold land together with shares in a mutual water company, so that each farm had its own right to water from the mountains. Euclid Avenue, the main street, was laid out with a wide planted median, where a mule car once rolled downhill while the mules rode on a platform behind it. Citrus groves and vineyards covered the plain around the town, and Ontario was incorporated in 1891. Earl Richardson made his first lightweight electric irons in Ontario and sold them under the name Hotpoint.

The Graber Olive House, run by the same family since the 19th century, cures and cans tree-ripened olives in its packing house in the city. UPS flies parcels through a regional air hub at Ontario International Airport, and warehouses for goods arriving from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach spread across the former farmland. Ontario Mills, an outlet mall on the east side, draws shoppers from across Southern California.

The Museum of History and Art fills a Mission Revival building of the 1930s with exhibits on the Chaffeys, the citrus groves and the early irons. The Toyota Arena hosts minor league hockey, concerts and ice shows.