When looking at city names, it's surprisingly common for them to originate from people's names.

Even those who have lived in Rowland Heights for a long time often don't know why it was named Rowland Heights.

The namesake of this area is John A. Rowland.

Rowland was a figure from the 19th-century California pioneer era. He moved to California from New Mexico with William Workman and received land from the Mexican government, owning Rancho La Puente.

What's interesting is the size of this land. The ranch at that time was not just a single farm as we think of it today.

It was a quite large area that included present-day Rowland Heights, La Puente, Hacienda Heights, and surrounding regions.

Today, the area is filled with cities, freeways, housing developments, and shopping centers, but it looked completely different 180 years ago.

As time passed, the land was divided into various regions and developed, but the name Rowland remained. Ultimately, the name Rowland Heights that we use today is a remnant of a person who settled in this area in the 19th century.

Another name that frequently comes up in this area is Peter F. Schabarum.

If you're a resident of Rowland Heights, you might have visited Schabarum Regional County Park, named after him. He was a politician who served as a California state assemblyman and later as an LA County supervisor for many years. His name remains on the park, which he was involved in regarding local parks and open space preservation.

Living in the U.S., you often see local history reflected in city names, road names, and park names. Names that you might pass by every day can reveal stories from 100 or 200 years ago when you look into their origins.

Today, Rowland Heights looks completely different from back then. Especially over the past few decades, a large number of Asian immigrants, including those from China, Taiwan, and Korea, have settled here, making it one of the prominent Asian communities in East LA. The current mix of Chinese restaurants, markets, Korean eateries, and various Asian businesses will also be recorded as part of this area's history in the future.

I often thought of neighborhood names as just names, but knowing their origins gives me a different perspective. Even a single sign for Rowland hides the history of 19th-century California.

Even the ordinary neighborhoods where we drive, eat, and shop hold stories that span over 180 years.