[7] El Cajón, Spanish for "the box", was first recorded on September 10, 1821, as an alternative name for sitio rancho Santa Mónica to describe the "boxed-in" nature of the valley in which it sat.

In 1905, the name was once again expanded to "El Cajon" under the insistence of California banker and historian Zoeth Skinner Eldredge.

[8] During Spanish rule (1769–1821), the government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English word ranch is derived.

For years, the pasturelands of El Cajon supported the cattle herds of the mission and its native Indian converts.

In 1845, California Governor Pio Pico confiscated the lands of Mission San Diego de Alcala.

The grant was originally called Rancho Santa Monica and encompassed present-day El Cajon, Bostonia, Santee, Lakeside, Flinn Springs, and the eastern part of La Mesa.

Maria Estudillo was the wife of Don Miguel Pedrorena (1808–1850), a native of Madrid, Spain, who had come to California from Peru in 1838 to operate a trading business.

With the cession of California to the United States after the Mexican–American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored.

In 1868, Los Angeles land developer Isaac Lankershim bought the bulk of the Pedrorena's Rancho El Cajon holdings and employed Major Levi Chase, a former Union Army officer, as his agent.

Lankershim hired Amaziah Lord Knox (1833–1918), a New Englander whom he had met in San Francisco, to manage Rancho El Cajon.

In 1876, Knox established a hotel there to serve the growing number of people traveling between San Diego and Julian, where gold had been discovered in 1869.

[13][14] In the 1960s and 1970s, Frontier Town, Big Oak Ranch, was a tourist attraction, featuring a typical frontier-town theme park and a periodic simulated shootout.

Although the speedway closed after the death of Steve Brucker, it is now a historic museum featuring the original entrance sign with the slogan "The fastest 3/8-mile paved oval in the West.

The farther east from the coast, the more arid the climate gets, until one reaches the mountains, where precipitation increases due to orographic uplift.

People of Arab descent made up 10.3% of the population of the town, followed by German at 6.7%, English at 5.8%, Irish at 4.3%, Italian at 3.0%, American at 2.4%, Sub-Saharan African at 1.9%, Polish at 1.7%, Norwegian at 1.4%, Swedish at 1.0%, French at 0.9%, Dutch at 0.8%, Hungarian at 0.8%, Scottish at 0.6%, Greek at 0.5%, Portuguese at 0.5%, and Czech at 0.5%.

[33] In particular, the city has a large Iraqi immigrant population, consisting of both Arabs and Chaldean Catholics; both groups are among the largest such communities in the country.

[34] According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2008-2010 Estimate, 7,537 residents self identify as Arabs (7.6%; mainly Iraqi), and 6,409 (6.4%) are Chaldean Catholic Assyrians.

According to estimates by the San Diego Association of Governments, the median household income of El Cajon in 2005 was $47,885 (not adjusted for inflation).

[40] On October 24, 2013, Mayor Mark Lewis resigned his position after coming under criticism for remarks he made about El Cajon's Chaldo-Assyrian community.

Many notable figures including Congressman Juan Vargas and Neighborhood Market Association President Mark Arabo called for his resignation.

[42] On November 12, the city council appointed Councilman Bill Wells, who had been serving as mayor pro tem.

In the California State Legislature, El Cajon is in the 39th Senate District, represented by Democrat Akilah Weber.

Steele Canyon high school On a Saturday in May, the city celebrates its diversity with a free family-friendly event called "America on Main Street".

Both festivals highlight the city's identity as a "mini-United Nations", with 30% of its population being immigrants from Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, and other countries.

It features more than 100 entries, including "motorized floats, marching bands and drill units, equestrians, clowns, performing artists, giant helium balloons, specialty vehicles, and Santa Claus.