A Brief History of Glendale, California

In 1884 residents gathered to form a town and chose the name "Glendale". Residents to the southwest formed "Tropico" in 1887. The City of Glendale was incorporated in 1906 and Tropico was annexed 12 years later. Glendale grew quickly. Its population rose from 13,756 in 1920 to 62,736 in 1930.

The "Grand Central Airport" was an important facility to Glendale, and to the history of aviation. It provided the first paved runway west of the Rocky Mountains in 1923. In 1928 it opened its terminal, making it the first official airport in Greater Los Angeles. Pioneering female aviator Laura Ingalls became the first woman to fly solo across in the country when she landed at Glendale in 1930, and the first transcontinental flight by Albert Forsythe and Charles Anderson, was completed at Glendale in 1933. Howard Hughes built his innovative and record-setting "H-1 Racer" in a plant next to the airport in 1935, and during World War II it became a P-38 base where the 319th Fighter Wing trained.