The first explorers had found this a rich, low-altitude land blanketed with thick growths of wispy willows, alders, and cattails, located between the two rivers.

Using the Old Spanish Trail route at the end of 1841, a group of travelers and settlers, now referred to as the Workman-Rowland Party, arrived in the Pueblo of Los Angeles and this area in Alta California from Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

The first permanent residents arrived in El Monte around 1849-1850 mostly from Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, during a time when thousands migrated to California in search of gold.

These migrants ventured upon the bounty of fruitful, rich land along the San Gabriel River and began to build homesteads there.

The farmers were very pleased at the increasing success of El Monte's agricultural community, and it steadily grew over the years.

In the early days, it had a reputation as a rough town where men often settled disputes with knives and guns in its gambling saloons.

Defense against Indian raids and the crimes of bandit gangs, such as that of Joaquin Murrieta, led to the formation of a local militia company called the Monte Rangers in February 1854.

[14] After the Monte Rangers disbanded, justice for Los Angeles County, in the form of volunteer posses, as in the 1857 hunt for the bandit gang of Juan Flores and Pancho Daniel, or a lynching, was often provided by the local vigilantes called the "El Monte Boys".

In 1858 the adobe Monte Station was established, a stagecoach stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail Section 2 route.

State arms sent from Governor John G. Downey for the unit were held up by Union officers at the port of San Pedro.

Union troops established New Camp Carleton near the town in March 1862 to suppress any rebellion, it was shut down three years later at the end of the war.

(This area presently includes the cities of El Monte, Monterey Park and La Puente, among others).

During the 1930s, the city became a vital site for the New Deal's federal Subsistence Homestead project, a Resettlement Administration program that helped grant single-family ranch houses to qualifying applicants.

The racial makeup of El Monte was 44,058 (38.8%) White (4.9% Non-Hispanic White),[7] 870 (0.8%) African American, 1,083 (1.0%) Native American, 28,503 (25.1%) Asian (13.5% Chinese, 7.4% Vietnamese, 1.2% Filipino, 0.4% Cambodian, 0.2% Burmese, 0.2% Japanese, 0.2% Korean, 0.2% Indian, 0.2% Thai), 131 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 35,205 (31.0%) from other races, and 3,625 (3.2%) from two or more races.

78,317 (69.0%) of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race (60.9% Mexican, 2.3% Salvadoran, 1.2% Guatemalan, 0.4% Nicaraguan, 0.3% Honduran, 0.3% Cuban, 0.2% Puerto Rican, and 0.2% Peruvian).

According to the 2010 United States Census, El Monte had a median household income of $39,535, with 24.3% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

[59] El Monte community news is provided by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune which is published daily.

Other local newspapers include Mid-Valley News and El Monte Examiner which are both published weekly.

Hometown Jamboree, a KTLA-TV Los Angeles-based show, was produced at El Monte Legion Stadium in the 1950s.

[63] The Saturday night stage show was hosted and produced by Cliffie Stone, who helped popularize country music in California.

The El Monte Legion Stadium, outside the city limits, became the site of a series for rock and roll concerts by Johnny Otis and other performers.

(Johnny Otis along with Alan Freed and Dick Clark were the major powers in the growing rock and roll industry.)

During the fifties, teenagers from all over Southern California flocked to El Monte Legion Stadium every Friday and Saturday night to see their favorite performers.

Famous singers who performed there include: Ritchie Valens, Rosie & the Originals, Brenton Wood, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Grateful Dead,[65] Dick Dale and his Del-Tones and Johnny "Guitar" Watson.

[66] In a closed-circuit telecast, a recorded performance of The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Lesly Gore aired in the El Monte Legion Stadium from Mar 14–15, 1964.

Two European retired circus stars, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gay, operated this tourist attraction, which has been called "the Disneyland of the 1920s and 1930s" by historian Jack Barton,[10] and many others of that era.

The original lion statue, commissioned for the Farm, stands in front of nearby El Monte High School.

[71] Horse racing's most famous jockey, Willie Shoemaker, was a resident and attended El Monte High School, until he dropped out to work in the nearby stables.

Actor-filmmaker Timothy Carey filmed much of his underground feature The World's Greatest Sinner (1962) in El Monte.

[74] Mister Ed, the palomino of the classic 1960s television show, was foaled in 1949 in El Monte and named "Bamboo Harvester".