La Puente (Spanish for "The Bridge") is a city in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city had a population of 38,062 at the 2020 census and is approximately east of Los Angeles.
History
thumb|left|La Puente sits on land that was originally part of [[Rancho La Puente, a Mexican era rancho granted in 1840. The area had already been named La Puente by Juan Crespí during the 1769 Portolá expedition.]]
The original inhabitants of the area now occupied by the city of La Puente were the Tongva lived in a village called Awingna, which linguists translate as "abiding place." The Awingna chief Matheo (who also held sway over several other nearby villages) was baptized at Mission San Gabriel in 1774.
thumb|left|200px|La Puente Valley Women's Club is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1769, the Spanish Portolá expedition became the first Europeans to see inland portions of Alta California. On July 30, the party camped on the east side of the San Gabriel River, in today's unincorporated area of Bassett. Father Juan Crespi wrote in his diary that, the next day, they had to build a bridge (Spanish "puente") to cross the miry San Gabriel River.
With the establishment of Mission San Gabriel, the area encompassing Awingna and what is now the city of La Puente became part of Rancho La Puente, established as a mission outpost and ranch. The rancho was visited by the Jedediah Smith party in November 1826, the first Americans to travel overland to California.
Following secularization of the missions in the 1830s, former mission ranchos passed into private ownership. In 1842, John Rowland and William Workman were granted the Rancho La Puente. In 1884, the area was named Puente (bridge in Spanish; in old Spanish the noun was often feminine, as opposed to modern Spanish el puente). In Crespi's diary, it was written as "la puente", and that spelling has persisted.
The area was known for its fruit and walnut groves during the 1930s. The city was even home to the world's largest walnut packing plant.
A small airport called the 'Skyranch' operated in La Puente from 1944 to 1951 before it was closed and developed for housing.
Today, the city is heavily urbanized, but the area still has some historical landmarks from its founding days nearby, for instance, the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum in neighboring City of Industry.
Redevelopment of the business districts in La Puente have been ongoing. However, the local government has been relatively unsuccessful in its attempts to attract big-box retailers and restaurant chains. La Puente retains many aging 1950s-era strip malls.
Geography
La Puente is located at (34.032410, -117.955195). The city, which is mostly flat, covers about of land in the San Gabriel Valley.