Poway

The Kumeyaay lived in the valley for centuries before the Spanish arrived. Arrowheads, spear points, grinding stones and pottery have turned up along the bed of Poway Creek, and pictographs mark many of the boulders. Modern dating suggests the paintings go back to the 16th century and earlier.

In the late 18th century Mission San Diego de Alcalá kept cattle in the valley. Mission documents record the name as "Paguay" as early as 1828. "Poway" probably comes from a Kumeyaay word meaning "arrowhead" (pawii) or "watering hole" (paguay), and other sources read it as "the meeting of little valleys" or "end of the valley." The spelling has been argued over for good reason. Mexican authorities wrote it Paguai, and it also appears as Paui, Pauai, Pauy and Powaii.

For about a century the valley served as a stock range for the mission and local ranchos. In September 1839 Corporal Rosario Aguilar was granted Rancho Paguai, confirmed on May 22, 1840. He refused it, became a justice of the peace in 1841 and moved to San Juan Capistrano.

American settlers came to farm in the years before the Civil War, and the Homestead Act of 1862 brought more. The soil was fertile. Farmers grew peaches, Muscat grapes, apricots, pears, hay and alfalfa. Some caught swarms of wild bees and kept honey. Most families had a cow, chickens and maybe a hog. The Poway Progress newspaper, which began in 1894, reported on the harvests, including one year when a single captured swarm of bees multiplied to thirty or forty stands. About 800 people lived and farmed here in 1887.

Water held the town back. Poway had a creek and rich soil but no dependable supply, so large-scale farming and population growth never arrived. Crops rose and fell with each winter's rain. That changed in 1954, when voters formed the Poway Municipal Water District by 210 to 32 and then voted to join the San Diego County Water Authority. A third election approved $600,000 in bonded debt to build a water system. The first delivery went to Gordon's Grocery on Garden Road in July 1954. Farming then shifted to avocados and citrus. Poway Dam was built in 1972 for a steadier supply.

Water brought houses. The Pomerado County Water District formed in 1957 to provide sewers along Pomerado Road, and the first subdivision homes were built and sold in 1959 as Poway Valley Homes. The city incorporated on December 1, 1980. Poway no longer depends on agriculture and has become a residential community for people who work in and around San Diego.

The first stagecoach to serve Poway ran in 1888 between San Diego and Escondido. It stopped once in town, at the post office, and farmers would trot alongside the coach to ask about their mail. A three-day trip cost $1.00, or $1.50 round trip. The route could be rough, and winding mountain trails sometimes tipped the coach over. San Diego ended the line in 1912. Poway set up a county road station in 1920 to oil the roads for cars, and it ran until 1961, when 80% of the roads were paved. Parts of Pomerado Road, a major north-south artery today, were once U.S. Route 395.

Today the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System runs MTS routes 944 and 945, which connect Poway to the Sabre Springs and Rancho Bernardo transit centers. Limited commuter buses run from downtown San Diego during commute hours. Wide roads and plenty of parking make driving the easy option, and the trip from downtown San Diego to downtown Poway takes around 30 minutes. The nearest airport is San Diego International.

Old Poway Park is home to the Poway-Midland Railroad and the Poway Historical and Memorial Society. Other parks include Aubrey Park, Starridge Park, Poway Community Park and Lake Poway. The Blue Sky Ecological Reserve is a protected natural area, and trails lead through Sycamore Canyon Preserve and Goodan Ranch. There is also an Interpretive Center at Pauwai.

The oldest house of worship in the county is here. The Community Church of Poway, the town's first church, has been in operation since 1887, the longest continual run in San Diego County. The community also includes Catholic, Jewish, Sikh, Latter-day Saints and Jehovah's Witness congregations. On April 27, 2019, an attack at Chabad of Poway during Passover services left four people shot, one of them fatally.

Lake Poway is a reservoir owned by the City of Poway, built between 1970 and 1972 to store water and to give the community a place for recreation. A 1962 report had shown that the town's storage would not be enough if the aqueduct from the Colorado River broke after an earthquake or other interruption, so the plan was an earthen dam in Warren Canyon. Voters turned down a $3.2-million bond in March 1964 and again in June 1966, because it fell short of the required two-thirds majority both times. In June 1969 it passed with 87 percent in favor. Groundbreaking was in December 1970, water flowed in late 1971, and the recreation facilities opened in October 1972.

The dam is made of earth and stands 165 feet tall. The reservoir covers 35 acres and holds 3,800 acre-feet. Water comes from the San Diego County Water Authority and goes through the Lester J. Berglund water treatment plant before it is stored. The hillside park beside the lake has picnic areas, playgrounds and sports facilities. Since 1997 the Game at the Lake, a softball game between Poway High School and Rancho Bernardo High School, has been played on the last day of the regular season. In May 2017 a bronze statue of the Padres player Tony Gwynn, a longtime Poway resident, was unveiled at the lake.

A 2.75-mile loop trail circles the reservoir and passes through four environments: sage scrub, chaparral, oak woodland and riparian woodland. It links to other routes, including the Blue Sky Ecological Reserve trail to Lake Ramona and the harder climb to the top of Mount Woodson and the Potato Chip rock. Fishing is allowed year round for trout, bass, catfish, sunfish and bluegill. The lake is stocked with rainbow trout in winter, and it has hosted a youth fishing derby for more than 25 years. The record blue catfish, caught in 2017, weighed 47 pounds.

Old Poway Park is where the Poway-Midland Railroad runs. The city owns the line, and a nonprofit group of volunteers, founded in 1991, restores, operates and maintains the antique equipment. Excursions run on the first and third weekends of most months, pulled by a 1907 Baldwin steam locomotive. The collection has 11 pieces of equipment, among them a 1956 Fairmont Speeder and a 1906 San Francisco Cable Car, which arrived in October 1997. Old Poway Park was dedicated on July 4, 1993, the turntable followed on July 4, 2002, and a new depot with a ticket office, train shop and museum was dedicated in October 2009. The railroad had carried 425,336 passengers by November 1, 2006.

Poway set up its school district in 1871 but had no schoolhouse until 1885, when a one-room school went up on Midland Road. The site is still an elementary school, though the building was torn down and rebuilt in 1945 and renovated in 2004 to 2006. Kids in first through eighth grade shared one classroom. Few went to high school, and those who did had to travel to Escondido. In 1909 only three Poway students graduated. Enrollment at the Poway School did not reach 100 until 1932.

The Poway Unified School District now has twenty-five elementary schools, six middle schools, six high schools, a home-schooling program and a K-8 school. Poway High School's teams are the Titans. One district student, Anurag Kashyap, won the 2005 National Spelling Bee as an eighth-grader, on the word "appoggiatura." Poway Adult School opened in 1963 and offers diploma and GED classes, English as a second language and short career courses.

The Poway Unified School District serves approximately 33,000 students and is the third-largest school district in San Diego County. Its reach is wider than the city, since 21 of its schools are in San Diego and eleven are in Poway. High schools include Poway High School, Rancho Bernardo High School, Del Norte High School, Mt. Carmel High School, Westview High School and Abraxas High School, plus the Poway to Palomar Middle College High School for grades 11 and 12. Students can also take career and technical classes through the district's Regional Occupation Program.

Growth strained the district in the early 2000s. Schools built for 500 children had as many as 700, and Poway High School, built to hold 1,500 students, had 3,100 in the 2004 to 2005 school year. In November 2002 voters approved the $198 million Proposition U bond measure, and in 2008 they approved a $179 million Proposition C. The money paid for repairs and new classrooms. It also rebuilt Midland Elementary School, the district's oldest elementary school, and modernized Poway High School, Mt. Carmel High School, Twin Peaks Middle School and seven of the oldest elementary schools.

Major portions of Poway were evacuated during both the 2003 Cedar Fire and the 2007 Witch Creek Fire. In 2004 the city adopted the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, based at nearby Camp Pendleton, with the Fred L. Kent Post 7907 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars acting as the go-between.

The pop-punk bands Blink-182, Unwritten Law, Pivit and the Frights all started in Poway.