Blythe (/ˈblaɪθ/) is a city in eastern Riverside County, California, United States.

Mr. Blythe established primary water rights to the Colorado River in the southwestern California region in 1877.

[7] In the early or mid-1870s, William Calloway (known as Oliver Calloway in some sources), an engineer and a former captain of the 1st California Infantry Regiment, explored an area across the Colorado River from Ehrenberg, Arizona, and found its potential for development.

He interested the wealthy San Francisco capitalist Thomas Henry Blythe (originally born Thomas Williams in Mold, Wales) to undertake development and settlement of an "empire" located next to the Colorado.

[9][10][11] Blythe appointed another man named George Irish as manager to assist Calloway in building an irrigation system.

[13][14] After his death, the work in the valley halted and Blythe's estate subsequently went into litigation between his illegitimate daughter Florence and other claimants, the trial beginning in 1889.

With the Hobson brothers from Ventura County, they bought Blythe's estate and formed the Palo Verde Land and Water Company.

Holt, who helped develop nearby Imperial Valley, was the company's general manager.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway began leasing the line in 1921 and acquired it at the end of 1942.

[18][20] The first automobile bridge over the Colorado River between Blythe and Ehrenberg was constructed in 1928 to replace a cable ferry service.

[22][23] In 1935, the completion of Boulder Dam extinguished the annual destructive floods in the valley.

As noted during the city's fiftieth anniversary, some forty crops were grown on the farms, and large cattle feeds were another aspect of the agriculture industry.

[24] As of 1947, the Fisher ranch had the biggest herd of registered Brahman cattle in California, the breeding stock having been sold to western states and other countries.

In 1972, Interstate 10 was built through the city, replacing US 60 and the previously decommissioned US 70 on Hobsonway as the main thoroughfare.

[26] In 2016, the voter-approved recreational use of cannabis in California has made the cannabis industry drawn to the economically declined city due to lower land prices, water, and potentially lower taxes compared to other parts of the state.

Nearby communities include Vidal to the north, Ripley to the south, Desert Center to the west, and Ehrenberg, Arizona, to the east.

The winter months bring visitors avoiding the colder climates of the north, when the population of the area within 50 miles (80 km) of Blythe has been known to exceed 500,000.

[30] Blythe also contains 24 churches, one library, two newspapers (Palo Verde Valley Times, The Desert Independent[usurped]), two museums, two radio stations (KERU-FM[31] and KJMB-FM[32] ), three banks, a three-screen movie theater (now closed), one funeral home and an 18,500 sq ft (1,720 m2).

There were 5,473 housing units at an average density of 202.9 per square mile (78.3/km2), of which 2,358 (52.2%) were owner-occupied, and 2,155 (47.8%) were occupied by renters.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Blythe had a median household income of $48,327, with 16.1% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

[35] A large portion of the city's population are inmates in the Chuckawalla Valley[36] and Ironwood State Prisons.

They play on Alexander Field in Todd Park facing the Palo Verde College.

Some games of the Lake Havasu Heat (folded in 2009) of the semi-pro Pacific Southwest Baseball League played in Blythe during the summer months.

[45] Health facilities in Blythe include Palo Verde Hospital, a General Acute Care Hospital with 55 total beds and 24-hour standby emergency services, 23 physicians/surgeons, 2 dentists, 2 optometrists, 1 chiropractor, and 1 podiatrist.