Palm Desert’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold just one old photo of Palm Desert. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Palm Desert is in the ancestral homeland of two now-extinct Cahuilla tribes - the Las Palmas band and the San Cayetano band - of the Cahuilla people, who are nowadays organized as a division of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.
The area was first known as the Old MacDonald Ranch before the name changed to Palm Village in the 1920s when date palm groves were planted. That original tract is today referred to as the Palma Village neighborhood in the central part of the city. Most of the pre–World War II residents of Palm Desert were Cahuilla farmers of the San Cayetano band. The Montoya family of Cahuilla and Spanish descent were prominent civic leaders in the early years of Palm Desert.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Palm Desert’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Palm Desert’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🗓️Date a photo1 archive item has no date+2 🔁Retake an old view(Memorial Community Walk): stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Palm Desert
See all 10 →
Palm Desert, decade by decade
2000
unknown1 item
![Palm trees and sculpture in the Southern California desert [Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden]](https://images.towntapestry.org/story/1646/1c1de923ea38ae415e9e-s.jpg)
![Palm trees in the Southern California desert [Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden]](https://images.towntapestry.org/story/1646/21815664d2c3cc2dbf0a-s.jpg)
1 historic place in Palm Desert
1 place in Palm Desert is on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as (Memorial Community Walk) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (3) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.