Downey, California
| Downey, California | |||
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| City | |||
| City of Downey | |||
The Downey City Hall in 2006
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 Location of Downey in Los Angeles County, California |
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 Downey, California
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| Coordinates: 33°56′17″N 118°07′51″W / 33.93806°N 118.13083°WCoordinates: 33°56′17″N 118°07′51″W / 33.93806°N 118.13083°W | |||
| Country |  United States of America |
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| State |
 California
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| County |
 Los Angeles
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| Founded | October 23, 1873 | ||
| Incorporated | December 17, 1956 | ||
| Named for | Gov. John G. Downey | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | Council-manager | ||
| • City Council |
Mayor Luis H. Marquez Alex Saab Roger C. Brossmer Sean Ashton Fernando Vasquez |
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| • City manager | Gilbert A. Livas | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 12.568 sq mi (32.551 km2) | ||
| • Land | 12.408 sq mi (32.137 km2) | ||
| • Water | 0.160 sq mi (0.414 km2) 1.27% | ||
| Elevation | 118 ft (36 m) | ||
| Population (April 1, 2010) | |||
| • Total | 111,772 | ||
| • Estimate (2013) | 113,242 | ||
| • Rank |
11th in Los Angeles County 53rd in California |
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| • Density | 8,900/sq mi (3,400/km2) | ||
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) | ||
| ZIP codes | 90239-90242 | ||
| Area code | 562 | ||
| FIPS code | 06-19766 | ||
| GNIS feature IDs | 1652698, 2410352 | ||
| Website | www |
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Downey is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, 21 km (13 mi) southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program, and is the hometown of Richard and Karen Carpenter. It is also the home of the oldest still operational McDonald's restaurant in the world. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 111,772.
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in Alta California, the area that now comprises Downey was inhabited by the Tongva ethnic group, which came to be called the Gabrielino by the Spanish. The nearest Tongva settlements appear to have been just north and northeast of present-day Downey, although there is difficulty in locating them very precisely. The villages of Naxaaw’nga and Sehat seem to have been situated near the present-day community of Los Nietos, or perhaps farther west on sites that were lost to floods of the San Gabriel River. Chokiishnga and Huutnga are other Tongva place names that may have referred to villages in the general area north of Downey between the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo. In all four cases, it is difficult to relate the original location descriptions, based on ranchos and land grants, to more specific sites identifiable by today's landmarks.
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was initially founded on September 8, 1771, near these concentrations of Tongva population, at a site in the Whittier Narrows on a bluff overlooking the Rio Hondo near the intersection of today's San Gabriel Blvd and Lincoln Avenue. After five years, flooding forced the relocation of the mission to its present site in San Gabriel.
In 1784, Governor Pedro Fages granted to former soldier Manuel Nieto (1734–1804) the largest of the land concessions made during the Spanish control of California. Its 300,000 acres (120,000 ha; 1,200 km2) stretched from the Santa Ana River on the east to the Old San Gabriel River (now the Rio Hondo and Los Angeles River) on the west, and from the mission highway (approximately Whittier Boulevard) on the north to the ocean on the south. Its acreage was slightly reduced later at the insistence of Mission San Gabriel on whose lands it infringed. The Spanish concessions, of which 25 were made in California, were unlike the later Mexican land grants in that title was not transferred, but were similar to grazing permits, with the title remaining with the Spanish crown.
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