Lemon Grove

The land was once part of Mission San Diego de Alcala, and later part of Mexican-era grants. Santiago Arguello received a grant of more than 59,000 acres that covered the area.

Robert Allison came from Sacramento in 1850 and bought thousands of acres from Arguello's heirs. That land later became Lemon Grove, La Mesa, Encanto and part of Spring Valley. Allison became a director and stockholder of the San Diego and Cuyamaca Railroad in 1886 and built the Allison Flume.

Allison's son Joseph filed subdivision maps for Lemon Grove in 1892. The name is credited to Joseph's mother, Tempa Waterman Allison. Early settlers found the mild climate suited to subtropical fruit and vegetables, and farmers from the East and Midwest moved here.

The Lemon Grove Fruit Growers Association formed in 1893. In 1894, the San Diego Union described the town as a sea of lemon trees.

Immigrant brothers Joseph and Anton Sonka opened a general store, A. Sonka and Son. Anthony Sonka helped lead the effort to build the giant lemon that became the town's symbol.

Most of the citrus groves were gone by World War II, and suburban building had begun. Voters held four incorporation elections between the 1950s and the 1970s. Lemon Grove incorporated on July 1, 1977, and became California's 414th city. It is a general-law city, not a charter city.

The giant lemon is a sculpture that weighs about 3,000 pounds and measures roughly 10 feet long and 6 feet wide. It stands at the corner of Broadway and Lemon Grove Avenue, near the trolley tracks and a downtown bus stop.

Architect Alberto O. Treganza designed it as a float for the 1928 Fourth of July Fiesta de San Diego. His 16-year-old daughter Amorita rode on it as the first Miss Lemon Grove. The float was plastered into a permanent sculpture in 1930.

State Routes 94 and 125 serve the city. The San Diego Trolley Orange Line stops at Lemon Grove Depot and Massachusetts Avenue Station.

The city's website links to a Lemon Grove Library page, a community calendar and facility rentals for receptions and meetings.

The Lemon Grove School District provides public primary education. Its schools include Lemon Grove Academy Middle School, the K to 8 schools Vista La Mesa Academy and Mount Vernon School, and the elementary schools Lemon Grove Academy Elementary, Monterey Heights, San Altos and San Miguel.

The Grossmont Union High School District provides secondary and adult education. Eligible students go outside the city for high school.