Azusa takes its name from a Shoshonean village that existed for 6,000 years before Spanish explorers arrived in 1769 and found a spacious plain of rich black earth with much grass and a fine channel of water, its banks covered with willows, blackberries, and innumerable roses. Sustained by a river swollen by melting mountain snows, the area long nourished abundant life. During California’s Mexican era it was called El Susa Rancho, and after the railroad arrived the town of Azusa bloomed with citrus groves. Incorporated in 1898, it later shifted from oranges and lemons to homes and industry served by Azusa Light and Water, and today the crossroads of Route 66 and Highway 39 remains the heart of its historic downtown.