Ramona is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States. The population was 21,468 at the 2020 census, up from 20,292 at the 2010 census.
The name Ramona also refers to an unincorporated community of San Diego (with some plans to incorporate) that includes both the Ramona CDP and the adjacent CDP of San Diego Country Estates. The population of the two CDPs, which does not include the fringe areas surrounding the CDPs, was 30,301 at the 2010 census, up from 25,223 at the 2000 census. The Ramona Community Planning Area had a population of 33,404 at the 2000 census. The January 1, 2006, population of the Ramona Community Planning Area is estimated to be 36,405 by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). USDA Hardiness Zones are 9b and 10a.
History
Early times Before it was permanently settled, the Ramona area was inhabited by the Kumeyaay Nation of Native Americans (Diegueño), a semi-nomadic people, who established annual settlements there as they moved between coastal and inland grounds. Their presence is indicated by archeological evidence such as rock paintings, etchings, and grinding stones used to grind acorns into meal for bread.
During Mexican governance of California, Rancho Valle de Pamo (also called Rancho Santa María) was a Mexican land grant that occupied the Santa Maria Valley and was centered on present-day Ramona.
The first post office was called Nuevo. The town took the name Ramona in 1886, when a land speculation syndicate, headed by Milton Santee, "organized the Santa Maria Land & Water Company and acquired for a townsite in the Santa Maria Valley and named it Ramona" after Helen Hunt Jackson's recent novel Ramona, which had stirred a nationwide interest in a romanticized vision of Southern California. The next year the town reverted to Nuevo because there was another town, in Los Angeles County, called Ramona. However, the other town did not flourish, and Nuevo permanently retook the name Ramona in 1894. Today in Ramona, there stands a Mexican restaurant named "Nuevo Grill" in remembrance of the town's original name. The restaurant even features a few old pictures that date back to when the town was still called Nuevo.
In 1886, Theophile Verlaque built a home, perhaps the first example of traditional French Provincial architecture in the Western United States, next to Amos' store. The Verlaque house, located at 645 Main Street in Ramona, is now home to the Ramona Pioneer Historical Society and its Guy B. Woodward Museum, and in 1991 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Ramona Town Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. It has also been known as Town Hall of Nuevo, and Barnett Hall. The Hall was built on two lots donated by Milton Santee, who as noted above headed up the Santa Maria Land & Water Company syndicate. Augustus and Martha Barnett donated the $17,000 "to the towns people of Nuevo, on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1894." Ramona Town Hall was designed by architect William S. Hebbard, who later, with his partner, Irving Gill, produced San Diego's best architecture until its breakup in 1907. The building is one of the largest, and oldest, adobe structures in southern California. Photographs of William Hebbard and Ramona Town Hall may be viewed on this San Diego Historical Society page, and on the Ramona Town Hall website.
As noted in a Ramona Home Journal article:
In the past, the Town Hall was home to Ramona’s first high school. Classes met upstairs from 1894 to 1898. The town’s first bank and first library also started in the building, and several religious groups met there before their churches were built.
Other organizations that met in the Town Hall included Ramona Grange, Santa Maria Masonic Lodge, Ramona Pioneer Historical Society, Ramona Chamber of Commerce, Ramona Art Guild, Town Hall Players and Ramona Council of Arts, Unlimited.
The Town Hall was used as a theater in the 1940s, with Harry Miles running the movie projector. It also was known as the community dance hall and the site of costume balls.
Recent history In the 1960s, boxer Archie Moore held a training camp called "Salt Mine" which trained George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. Moore fought from 1936 until 1963 and battled the top names in boxing at the time, including Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali. He won 185 of his 219 bouts before retiring at 49 years old after losing to Ali. Moore's connection to San Diego was his retreat, the Salt Mine Training Camp in Ramona. He called it "Salt Mine" because he said he worked as hard there to get ready for fights as anyone did in a salt mine. The property, at the foot of Mt. Woodson, included with five homes, a boxing ring, a sweatbox (steam room) and miles of winding country roads and trails that Moore used for road work. Moore often encountered rattlesnakes and even mountain lions on his runs.
On Mother's Day, May 13, 1973, Ramona entered the national spotlight. 55-year-old former-tennis-great-turned-hustler, Bobby Riggs, challenged the then 30-year-old women's world number-one player, Margaret Court, to a match. The match was staged at Ramona's San Diego Country Estates. Riggs won easily, 6–2, 6–1. He later lost to Billie Jean King in The Battle of the Sexes at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, on September 20, 1973.
The Cedar Fire began in Ramona approximately east of the San Diego Country Estates area, on October 25, 2003. The fire would eventually consume approximately , burn 2,820 buildings (including 2,232 homes), and take 15 lives. The Cedar Fire was the largest fire in California history at the time. In her book, A Canyon Trilogy, author Chi Varnado, a longtime Ramona resident, described many of the hardships the victims faced in the aftermath of the fire.
The Witch Fire began near Ramona near the area called Witch Creek on October 21, 2007. By three days later it had burned approximately in San Diego County with over 640 homes destroyed, 250 damaged, and 12 firefighters injured according to the San Diego Union Tribune. Roads into the town were closed. On October 24 the Witch Fire merged with another fire called the Poomacha which had originated in the area of the La Jolla Indian Reservation. Along with more than 10 other fires burning in San Diego County at the same time, the Witch-Poomacha fire helped cause the largest mandatory evacuations in U.S. history, with over 500,000 people displaced as of October 24.
In January 2006, Ramona Valley was designated the country's 162nd American Viticultural Area (AVA) by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which recognized the area for its distinctive microclimate, elevation, and soil attributes.
In May 2009, a grade 6 student at Mt. Woodson Elementary, Natalie Jones, was forbidden from delivering a class presentation on assassinated gay San Francisco city councilor Harvey Milk because her principal, and later the school district, declared it a "sensitive" issue that not all parents might want their children to learn about. The American Civil Liberties Union labeled the school district's actions as censorship and stepped in to give the school district five days to reverse its decision, and promise never to do anything like it again, or they would launch a lawsuit on Natalie's behalf. The school district did not immediately respond.
Government
Local As an unincorporated town, Ramona's plenary local governing body is the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. However, many governmental functions operate at the local level in Ramona.
The Ramona Municipal Water District (RMWD) is Ramona's local agency (within its boundaries) for water and sewer service, fire protection, paramedic services, and parks. The RMWD contracts with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to operate the Ramona Fire Department. The RMWD is governed by a five-member elected board of directors.
In the area of Ramona outside and east of the Ramona Municipal Water District, fire protection and paramedic service is provided by the InterMountain Fire - Rescue Department. It operates as a California 501c(3) non-profit corporation, and up to 9 people sit on its board of directors. Portions of Ramona, notably the Barona Mesa area adjacent to San Diego Country Estates, are under the jurisdiction of the San Diego Rural Fire Protection District.View its District map
With one exception, public schools in Ramona are operated by the Ramona Unified School District, which is governed by an elected five-person board of trustees. The exception was Sun Valley Charter High School. Although its charter was approved by the RUSD, it was governed by its own board. The charter school failed after a few years from a decline in the number of students and political friction from the RUSD.
Ramona Adult School was established in 1993 by the Ramona Unified School District. Ramona Adult School is a provider of adult education services in Ramona, California and serves the communities of Ballena, Santa Ysabel, San Diego Country Estates, Four Corners, Barona Reservation, Fernbrook, San Pasqual Valley, and Wynola. At an elevation of 1,430 ft, the adult school campus is located on the grounds of Montecito high school which is nestled in beautiful and historic foothills of the noteworthy Cuyamaca Mountains. Ramona Adult School offers adult education courses for adults in the areas of: high school diploma, GED, HISET, and adult basic education. Ramona Adult School works collaboratively with Palomar College and other local adult schools to connect students with post-secondary education and training. Ramona Adult School is a member of the Education to Career Network of North San Diego County. ETCN is one of 71 Consortiums in the State of California and is funded by the California Adult Education Program.
The Nuevo Gardens Memorial Cemetery is a public cemetery located at 532 Ash Street and governed by a three-person Board of Trustees, who are appointed by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
State and federal representation In the California State Legislature, Ramona is in , and in .
In the United States House of Representatives, Ramona is in .
Geography According to the United States Geological Survey Ramona is located at within the Santa Maria Valley. This is near the intersection of State Route 67 and State Route 78 and near the economic center of Ramona. The elevation is above sea level (at Ramona Airport).
Because Ramona is not an incorporated city, there are no city limits by which to measure its area. There are primarily three geographic areas by which the land area of Ramona is measured: 1. The boundaries of the Ramona Municipal Water District (approximately ); 2. The boundaries of the Ramona Unified School District (approximately ), and; 3. The boundaries of the Ramona Community Planning Area. The last is the primary area utilized by San Diego County's regional planning agency, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG).
The Ramona Community Planning Area encompasses more than (over ) in central San Diego County. The RCPA includes the unincorporated town of Ramona, California, and is located in the foothills of the Laguna Mountains. It is located east northeast of the City of Poway (with which it shares a boundary), east southeast of the City of Escondido, north of Lakeside, California, and west southwest of Santa Ysabel, California.
The RCPA consists primarily of the Santa Maria Valley and the San Vicente Valley, and the steep or mountainous terrain surrounding them. It also includes the Ballena Valley east of town, and Bandy Canyon and a small portion of the southern edge of the San Pasqual Valley. In the San Pasqual Valley, the RCPA abuts the City of San Diego.