After the United States claimed California during the Mexican-American War, the U.S. Army established a telegraph line from San Diego to Fort Yuma that ran through Chula Vista.
After significant irrigation projects completed at the end of the nineteenth century, Chula Vista slowly developed into one of the world’s largest producers of lemons, helping explain its nickname “The Lemon Capital of the World.”
“Lemon Capital of the World,” which the city celebrates each year with the annual Chula Vista Lemon Festival. Residents are big fans of the lemon ice cream and lemon meringue pies.
By the twenty-first century, Chula Vista had expanded greatly in terms of land size and population, thanks in large part to the annexations of large suburbs in the 1980s. The population has grown rapidly, at a steady pace of roughly 4-6% per year.
There are more than sixty parks covering some 560 acres of scenic parkland—one of the most popular is Mountain Hawk Park, which provides scenic views of Otay Lake as well as hiking, picnic tables, and more.
Chula Vista lives up to its name with a wide variety of hiking trails, bike routes, and nature activities, like the Chula Vista Nature Center for example.