Founder’s Garden

Ontario was shaped by pioneers who built a new community by combining their knowledge and skills with the energy and determination inspired by the landscape. George Chaffey, Ontario's founder, used irrigation to create a verdant setting resembling his native Ontario, Canada, while Italian immigrant Secondo Guasti saw the region's sandy, rocky soil as like his homeland and planted vineyards that needed little or no irrigation. Guasti's vineyards, Chaffey's irrigation tunnels, and Ontario's citrus and olive groves were cultivated and built by workers from throughout the United States and the world. Water and irrigation were essential to Ontario's history: the San Antonio Water Company was organized in 1882 with Chaffey as director, and in the early 20th century wells made by drill rigs brought water from the canyons and foothills to the city. Chaffey's system of tunnels, sluices, and underground pipes supplied the water needed for farms and the public landscaping of Euclid Avenue, and laborers from across the U.S. and as far away as China and India helped build the irrigation projects that laid the groundwork for future growth. Ontario was founded in 1882 and incorporated in 1891. In 1884 Guasti visited the area, was reminded of Italy's Piedmont region, and envisioned growing wine grapes there; in 1900 he and fifteen fellow Italian immigrants founded the Italian Vineyard Company, and the area remains a respected producer of wine. Cliff Graber's olive tree vision became one of Ontario's first industries when the Graber Olive House was established in 1894, and John Armstrong, an award-winning rose breeder and citrus cultivator, brought national attention and international recognition through his roses and nursery's plant breeding program after founding Armstrong Nurseries in 1892, which also supplied citrus stock to many local farmers. Trained as an engineer, Chaffey laid out his 1882 Colony Land around Euclid Avenue on a north-south axis oriented to the mountains with a regular symmetrical array of trees, and Ontario's trees, open spaces, and parks still reflect that vision.

Ontario, California · United States