About Corona

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Text Box: Where original residents of Corona were part of the ‘Inner Circle’ by default, that opportunity exists today and is yours for the taking, regardless of where in Corona you live!

The history of the City of Corona goes back to the 1886 purchase of a 12,000 acre parcel of desert land and a vision. This vision included a 3 mile circular street encompassing the city proper, separating it from agriculture and transportation. Government, homes, schools and businesses were originally built within the circular city. Since the city was within this boundary, all residents were part of the ‘inner circle.’ Corona has gone through a number of iterations, but regardless of the change in industry, area and demographics, it remains a city with a true small town feel.

In 1896 the residents of then ‘South Riverside’ voted to incorporate and take the name ‘Corona,’ Spanish for Crown in recognition of Grand Boulevard. Corona has been coined ‘The Queen Colony’ and later ‘The Circle City.’ By 1913 the city’s main business was the citrus industry with over 5,000 acres of groves to the south of the circle and numerous packing plants, making it the largest producer of lemons in Southern California. Manufacturing was to the north near the railroad used to move both produce and people.

Grand Boulevard was originally intended to have been a track for horse racing, but the advent of the automobile changed everything. Soon Grand Boulevard was the place to go for a drive in a touring car and later became but one of the major race tracks in the country. Thousands of people traveled from all over the country for the Corona Road Race of 1913.

National speed records were set which put the small town of 4,000 on the map. The races halted almost as quickly as they started with the 1916 death of three people during lap 96 when one of the racers had a tire blow out at approximately100 miles an hour. And so ended the world famous Corona Road Races.

An excerpt from an article titled, “Coming Full Circle”, dated May 28, 2009 on TeamCorona.com

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