Indio, California

Indio, California, is a U.S. city located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's desert region. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 49,116.

Related Topics:
U.S. - Coachella Valley - Desert - 2000

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Indio has hosted the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival since 1999 as well as other regularly-scheduled festivals. Notable among these are the "Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival" held each February and the "Indio International Tamale Festival" held each December. The largest festival of its kind in the US, the Tamale Festival earned Indio the official nickname of "The City Of Festivals."

Related Topics:
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival - 1999

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The town was laid out in 1894 by A.G. Tingman, a Southern Pacific Railroad construction boss. Tingman was also Indio's first storekeeper and postmaster. Indio was chosen as a railroad stop because it was the halfway point between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona. Tingman Avenue, once downtown Indio's main street was named in his honor; it was removed during the construction of a highway overpass on Jackson Street designed to eliminate a railroad grade crossing and traffic congestion along Indio Boulevard (old Highway 99, which see). Today, the Southern Pacific's successor, the Union Pacific Railroad maintains that original rail corridor as the main transcontinental line between Los Angeles and New Orleans, Louisiana. Indio's growth over the years was attributable both to the railroad and the coming of U.S. Highway 99 in 1926. Once California's main north-south highway, US 99 was decommissioned in 1964. Its present-day replacements are California State Highway 111, California State Highway 86 and Interstate 10. The original 1903 railroad station, a two-story wooden structure unique to the Southern Pacific, burned to the ground in 1966. Some of the station's artifacts were salvaged and can be viewed at the Coachella Valley Museum and Cultural Center in downtown Indio.

Related Topics:
1894 - Southern Pacific Railroad - Los Angeles - Yuma, Arizona - Union Pacific Railroad - New Orleans, Louisiana - U.S. Highway 99 - 1926 - 1964 - California State Highway 111 - California State Highway 86 - Interstate 10 - 1903 - 1966

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Indio is one of Southern California's most important agricultural regions as well, responsible for an overwhelming percentage of the nation's date crop.

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