Descanso

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Approximately 3,000 resident with a median household income of $61,619

Traveling east of Alpine, drivers who take the Descanso exit off Interstate 8 will quickly discover the beauty of the foothills along Historic Route 80. Breath-taking rock formations mark the route. About 30 miles of the highway is the same concrete laid in 1933.

The peaceful Kumeyaay Indian tribes once came and went here with the change of seasons. Eventually Spanish soldiers appeared, led by Don Pedro Fages. He eventually became governor of Alto California. Rancho Cuyamaca, which included much of Descanso, was one of the large pieces of land dispersed to family and friends. American farmers and ranchers moved into the area when the Mexican-American War ended in 1848. The old Indian trails became stage and mail routes.

Then gold was discovered in the Stonewall mine in Cuyamaca. A bustling community developed as traffic from the mine traveled through Descanso to San Diego. When gold supplies dropped, the climate changed, and rail lines appeared elsewhere. Descanso became a popular summer resort area for “flatlanders.” City folks from San Diego and Los Angeles built small summer cottages, comfortable sites amid the rocks and under the oaks.

Descanso was once nationally known for housing the second-oldest library in the U.S. Today the new, larger library is the hub of the community. The community known as “the gateway to the Cuyamacas” has more than 900 households. Many of the approximately 3,000 residents work “down the hill.” With a median household income now of $61,619, Descanso has a number of organizations and a community life that revolves around the busy Descanso branch of the San Diego County Library.

Commercial enterprises in the Descanso area include a good restaurant, a pizza deli, a store with antiques, and a fresh produce stand. Local events include the big July parade and fair at the Descanso Town Hall, the annual Catholic Church barbecue fundraiser of more 70 years every Labor Day, and October’s Vaquero Days with Western-style riding and roping demonstrations and cowboy poets.