Colton, California, United States

🇺🇸 Colton is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Nicknamed "Hub City", Colton is located in the Inland Empire region of the state and is a suburb of San Bernardino, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the city's downtown.

Colton is the site of Colton Crossing, which was one of the busiest at-grade railroad crossings in the United States. The crossing was installed in 1882 by the California Southern Railroad to cross the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks while building northward from San Diego. As a result of railroad acquisitions and mergers, this became the point at which the Burlington Northern Santa Fe's "Southern Transcontinental Route" crossed the Union Pacific's "Sunset Route". As traffic on each line began to soar in the mid-1990s, fueled largely by the vast increase in imports passing through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the primitive crossing became a serious bottleneck. On August 28, 2013, the at-grade crossing was officially replaced by a fly-over that raises the east–west UP tracks over the north–south BNSF tracks.

History Before Spanish settlement, the area was inhabited by the Serrano, Guachama, and San Gorgonio Indians.

Colton was founded in 1875 and incorporated in 1887.

During the Mission Era the Mission San Gabriel established a Spanish settlement Politana in 1810, just north-east of what is now Colton. By 1840, Colton was part of two private ranchos, Jurupa and San Bernardino Rancho. From south-west area of modern-day Colton was known as "Agua Mansa" (Gentle Waters). It had been settled by New Mexico pioneers in 1842. What is currently known as Cooley Ranch was known as Indian Knolls for nearly 100 years. This is because the Indians living in what is now the San Bernardino Valley found refuge on the knolls of the property during the flood of 1862.

Geography Slover Mountain, once the highest point in San Bernardino Valley and the site of the Colton Liberty Flag, is located in the city.

Economy According to a recent Financial Report, the top employers in the city include: 1 Arrowhead Regional Medical Center; 2 Colton Joint Unified School District; 3 Walmart; 4 Lineage Logistics; 5 County of San Bernardino; 6 Ashley Furniture; 7 City of Colton; 8 Brill, Inc; 9 Reche Canyon rehabilitation & Health Center; 10 Stater Bros.