City of Whittier

If you've never been to a swapmeet you aren't down for Whittier. Whittier is a city in Los Angeles County, California about 12 miles southeast of Los Angeles. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 83,680. The roots of Whittier can be traced to Jacob Gerkens, a German immigrant who paid $234 to the U.S. government to acquire 160 acres of land under the Homestead Act. He built a cabin on the land which is today known as the Jonathan Bailey House. The land had several owners before a group of Quakers bought the land, which had since been expanded to 1,259 acres, with the purpose of founding a Quaker community.Whittier became a charter law city and was incorporated in 1898. Like many other southern California communities, Whittier experienced a population increase after World War II.Origin of nameIn the founding days of Whittier, when it was a small isolated town, Jonathan Bailey and his wife, Rebecca, were among the first residents. They followed the Quaker religion, and held religious meetings on their porch. As the city grew, the citizens named it after John Greenleaf Whittier, a respected Quaker poet. Whittier wrote a dedication poem, and is honored today with statues and a small exhibit at the Whittier museum; a statue of him sits in the park, and another representing his poem The Barefoot Boy resides by the City Hall. Consequently, the college there is called Whittier College, and the mascot, appropriately, is "The Poet." Whittier never set foot there, but the city still bears his name and is rooted in the Quaker tradition.Whittier Narrows earthquake
In 1987, the Whittier Narrows earthquake struck with the epicenter being 6 miles north-by-northwest of Whittier resulting in massive damage to the historic structure of Uptown Whittier. In the years following the earthquake, the City's deteriorating Uptown Business District, which suffered substantial damage in the quake, saw renewed development and is now a thriving retail center.