History of San Marcos, CA
The town of San Marcos began around the present day intersection of Grand ave. and Rancho Santa Fe road around 1887, settled by Spanish missionaries. During the 1800's and into the early 1900's San Marcos was a farming community, also producing wine and honey. In the early 1900's the town center moved more towards present day intersection of Mission & Pico to be closer to the Santa Fe Railroad.
The City of San Marcos, CA stayed relatively small until the mid 1900's when irrigation from the Colorado river arrived. At this time the farming community of San Marcos started increasing rapidly in size.
The population steadily increased during the 60's and 70's and finally in the 1980's the population doubled bringing the total to around 30,000 people.
At this time Palomar College as well as the then satellite campus of CSUSM were founded. The City of San Marcos continues it's rapid expansion and is one of the fastest growing cities in California.