Who doesn’t love fruit-bearing trees in the backyard? Beyond the immediate benefit of fresh fruit (especially with grocery prices so high), fruit trees are symbolic of bounty and can make for great marketing if you’re listing your home. This goes double when listing Downey homes for sale. That’s because a fruit-bearing tree in a Downey backyard could provide a link to the community’s rich agricultural history.
The Lost Orchards of Downey
If you’ve taken a glance at homes for sale in Downey CA, you’ve seen a largely suburban residential community, much of which was built on the aerospace industry. But before the manufacturing juggernaut of World War II, Downey was recognized as a farming community. The fertile earth between the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel Rivers facilitated the ideal conditions for a burgeoning agriculture industry. In the 1860s, Downey’s namesake, John Gately Downey, purchased farmland that he subdivided. The area became a farming hotspot with citrus-bearing orchards quickly rising to become a prominent part of Downey’s pseudo-rural landscape.
Oranges weren’t the only produce to take off in Downey. Walnuts also did quite well in the area, and other agricultural crops contributed to the city’s reputation. It was newsworthy enough to warrant a 1926 Los Angeles Times story highlighting a Downey farm selling off its surplus pears and apples. Yet, if you find a fruit-bearing tree in the backyard of any Downey homes for sale, it’s likely to be a citrus fruit. And not necessarily oranges, although they were arguably the most popular fruit in the region.
Downey’s historical records cite an explosion of interest in Washington navel oranges during the 1890s, but grapefruit and lemons were also introduced to Downey farms around the same time. With the Southern Pacific Railroad passing through Downey, packing operations began to sprout up across the city.
World War II Brought a New Chapter to Downey Industry
The market for Downey homes for sale, and the industry that shaped this market, rapidly changed with the declaration of World War II. Agriculture took a backseat to military manufacturing. Farms and orchards were razed to make way for industrial factories geared toward aerospace production. And with the factories came a need for more homes, more streets, and more commercial businesses. In 1956, Downey officially incorporated. By then, the city’s agricultural industry was just a whisper of its former self.
Investigating Downey Homes for Sale With Links to the Past
Today, several of the Downey homes for sale that hit the market have literal roots connecting property to this fleeting time in the city’s history. If you find fruit-bearing trees in the backyard, you may be looking at a home that harkens back to one of these lost orchards. But that doesn’t mean every orange tree is proof that a Downey house was once instrumental in the city’s agricultural period.
If history is crucial to your choice of homes for sale in Downey CA, then you need to evaluate documented property records for confirmation. Investigation is integral. It can be fun to speculate about a lush fruit-bearing tree in the backyard. How old is it? How closely does the landscaping match the past presentation? Are there other older fruit-bearing trees on the property? But the tree itself likely won’t be enough to confirm a home as part of the city’s historic agricultural industry. Fortunately, organizations like the Downey Historical Society can get you started by pointing you in the right direction.
That being said, those orange trees you noticed while touring your favorite Downey homes for sale very well could be links to a distant time in the city’s past. It adds an extra degree of curiosity to the home hunting process. Imagining a time when Downey’s suburbs were thriving orchards and farmland can be difficult. But backyard relics remain if you’re observant (and lucky) enough.
With a brand that says as much as JohnHart’s, Senior Copywriter Seth Styles never finds himself at a loss for words. Responsible for maintaining the voice of the company, he spends each day drafting marketing materials, blogs, bios, and agent resources that speak from the company’s collective mind and Hart… errr, heart.
Having spent over a decade in creative roles across a variety of industries, Seth brings with him vast experience in SEO practices, digital marketing, and all manner of professional writing with particular strength in blogging, content creation, and brand building. Gratitude, passion, and sincerity remain core tenets of his unwavering work ethic. The landscape of the industry changes daily, paralleling JohnHart’s efforts to {re}define real estate, but Seth works to maintain the company’s consistent message while offering both agents and clients a new echelon of service.
When not preserving the JohnHart essence in stirring copy, Seth puts his efforts into writing and illustrating an ongoing series entitled The Death of Romance. In addition, he adores spending quality time with his girlfriend and Romeo (his long-haired chihuahua mix), watching ‘70s and ‘80s horror movies, and reading (with a particular penchant for Victorian horror novels and authors Yukio Mishima and Bret Easton Ellis). He also occasionally records music as the vocalist and songwriter for his glam rock band, Peppermint Pumpkin.
