Spring Valley

Spring Valley represents 11 square miles of some of the most unique and culturally diverse communities of the East County. Home to roughly 60,000 people, the unincorporated area is a mix of open space and horse trails, foothill suburbs with views, and dense urban centers with industrial pockets. There is a wide variety of affordable housing options with a blend of apartments, townhomes, and single-family homes ranging from cute 1950s bungalows to the newer subdivisions of Sweetwater Village.

Like other East County communities, Spring Valley champions a "small town" feel, with ample opportunities for neighbors to get to know one another. Active business and social clubs and a focused citizens' association encourage civic and social participation, and the local community center schedules light adventure vacations (kayaking in Baja!) as well as the more traditional craft and recreational activities.

Distinctly individual communities such as Bancroft, La Presa, Brookside, Spring Valley, Dictionary Hill, and Sweetwater Village offer residents the retail rewards of an urban lifestyle, or the privacy and space of a rural environment. Some neighborhoods offer the promise of a wise investment in an area experiencing aggressive revitalization.

Dictionary Hill, one of the area's most well-known subdivisions, combines an independent nature and panoramic views with a charming historical anecdote. Originally called Lookout Mountain, residents climbed it to see whether ships had docked in the harbor 11 miles to the west. In 1910, a real estate company bought 480 acres and gave away a parcel to anyone who bought a $109 set of encyclopedias, though many later lost their land due to unpaid property taxes. Lookout Mountain became known as Encyclopedia Heights, and then as Dictionary Hill. Today it's a crazy collection of inconsistent lot sizes, large homes, ridiculously steep grades, and stunning views.

Another neighborhood most San Diegans consider to be Spring Valley is Casa de Oro, which is actually the southwest corner of unincorporated Valle de Oro. Located north of I-94 at the base of the southern slope of Mt. Helix, this town of almost 20,000 fuses parts of unincorporated Spring Valley, El Cajon, and La Mesa. As it sweeps up the slope of Mt. Helix, Casa de Oro transforms from affordable housing to small cottages, picturesque Spanish Revival houses, and traditional California ranch homes.

East of San Diego, north of Sweetwater, and south of La Mesa, Spring Valley is an area as rich in history as it is in culture. The story begins with the Kumeyaay, who lived in the fertile valley with the natural spring. They called the valley Meti.

After millennia of peaceful, pastoral living, Spanish friars arrived to complicate things, running most of the Kumeyaay off and turning their cattle loose upon the verdant pasturelands. In 1775, the monks renamed the area San Jorge and the spring El Aguaje de San Jorge – St. George's Spring.

In 1846, with the threat of war looming, California governor Pio Pico rushed to distribute the last of the mission lands. He granted the mission of San Diego – the first established in California – to Santiago Arguello. The 58,875-acre rancho stretched from the pueblo boundary to El Cajon Valley, and from National City to Clairemont, and included St. George's Spring.

In the early years of California statehood, Californio land claims were often challenged and dismissed by the new, white Americans. In 1863, Judge Augustus Ensworth filed a pre-emption claim for 160 acres of the ex-Mission rancho that included St. George's Spring and lay between Lookout Mountain and Mt. Helix. Ensworth's 2-room adobe house, built using wood salvaged from a ship that ran aground in the harbor, was the first home in the East County built by a white man.

In 1865, writer/adventurer Rufus King Porter and his family bought Ensworth's small ranch and added several rooms. Porter wrote pieces for California newspapers and supplied the city of San Diego with eggs and dairy products. His daughter Rufina urged him to call the area Spring Valley, which he began doing in his columns.

California historian Hubert Howe Bancroft bought Porter's ranch in 1885. He then purchased some neighboring farms, accumulating 500 acres. Bancroft planted fruit and nut trees and berries and called the operation Helix Farms. By the early 1900s, it was one of the largest olive farms in Southern California. It was later sold and most of it became La Mesa Country Estates.

Today, the original adobe structure is a state and national historic landmark, and serves as the Bancroft Ranch House Museum.

A beautiful area with palm trees and open grasslands as well as scrub-covered hillsides, Spring Valley stretches south to Bonita and west to Paradise Valley and features views of Mexico and the Pacific. The average household income is close to $50,000 and the population is ethnically varied.

Just south of the I-94, Spring Valley offers a short, 11-mile commute to downtown San Diego, and SR-125 puts I-8 and Fashion Valley shopping within 15 minutes reach. Average elevations of 400 feet are contrasted with the steep slope of Dictionary Hill and the low-level drainage areas of Sweetwater River and Reservoir. The Sweetwater Regional Trail, open to riders and hikers, loops around the Sweetwater Reservoir and is the integral middle link that connects the San Diego Wildlife Refuge with open space preserves to the east in Rancho San Diego.