Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Part of the Gateway Cities, the city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census. Whittier was incorporated in February 1898 and became a charter city in 1955. The city is named for the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier and is home to Whittier College. The city is surrounded by four unincorporated areas sharing the Whittier name, West Whittier-Los Nietos, North Whittier, South Whittier, and East Whittier, which combined are home to a larger population than Whittier proper.
<span class="anchor" id="Etymology"></span>Etymology
thumb|left|Whittier is named for Quaker poet [[John Greenleaf Whittier.]]
In the founding days of Whittier, when it was a small, isolated town, Jonathan Bailey and his wife, Rebecca, were among the first residents. They followed the Quaker religious faith and practice and held religious meetings on their porch. Other early settlers, such as Aquila Pickering, also espoused the Quaker faith. As the city grew, the citizens named it after John Greenleaf Whittier, a respected Quaker poet, and deeded a lot to him. Whittier wrote a dedication poem and is honored today with statues and a small exhibit at the Whittier Museum; a statue of him sits in Whittier's Central Park, and another representing his poem "The Barefoot Boy" used to reside by the City Hall and is now in front of the main library. Whittier never set foot there, but wrote the poem "My Name I Give to Thee" about the city.
Whittier's roots can be traced to Spanish soldier Manuel Nieto. In 1784, Nieto received a Spanish land grant of , Rancho Los Nietos, as a reward for his military service and to encourage settlement in California. Gerkens later become the Los Angeles Police Department's first chief of police. His land was owned by several others before a group of Quakers purchased it and expanded it to , intending to found a Quaker community. The area soon became known as a thriving citrus ranching region, with "Quaker Brand" fruit shipped all over the United States. Beginning in 1887, walnut trees were planted, and Whittier became the nation's largest walnut grower. Thus in 1887 "enterprising and aggressive businessmen" contracted with the Southern Pacific Railroad to build the first railroad spur to Whittier, including a depot. The businessmen covered the $43,000 construction cost for the six-mile spur, which branched off from the Southern Pacific mainline at a junction near what is now Studebaker Road between Firestone Boulevard and Imperial Highway. By 1906, 650 carloads of oranges and 250 carloads of lemons were shipped annually by rail. In 1904, the Pacific Electric opened the trolley line known as "Big Red Cars" from Los Angeles to Whittier. In the first two decades, over a million passengers a year rode to and from Los Angeles on the Whittier Line. Whittier even had a branch of the Silver Shirts. Liquor sales were forbidden in the city; Bailey's Liquor Store was just outside the city limits. Richard Nixon, though born and buried in Yorba Linda, grew up in East Whittier. He attended and played football at Whittier High School (1928–1930) and Whittier College (1930–1934) In the 1930s, Nixon's law office was in the National Bank of Whittier Building in Uptown Whittier. Upon Nixon's return from World War II service, conservative Whittier businessman Herman Perry, Nixon's former landlord at the bank, spearheaded an effort to form a Committee of 100 Republicans in Eastern Los Angeles County to get Nixon elected to Congress in 1946.
After World War II, Whittier grew rapidly. The subdividing of orange groves began, driven by housing shortages in southern California. In 1955, the Civic Center complex was completed, and the City Council met in new chambers for the first time on March 8, 1955. The city continued to grow as it annexed portions of Whittier Boulevard and East Whittier. The 1961 annexation added over 28,000 people to the population, bringing the total to about 67,000. The Quakers also founded Whittier Academy (later Whittier College), and additional meetings met in East Whittier and at Whittier College's Mendenhall. The Mendenhall and East Whittier meetings kept the silent meeting longer than the main church.
Colleges
thumb|Cover of a Whittier Chamber of Commerce brochure,
In 1887, the Pickering Land and Water Company set aside a parcel of land to develop a college, but a collapse in the land boom stalled construction. Progress on developing a college was sporadic, but on July 30, 1896, the Whittier Academy, operating since 1891, officially changed its name to Whittier College and enrolled 100 students. The school mascot is "The Poet". By 1906, Whittier College was an educational institution with laboratories, boarding halls, a large gymnasium, and athletic fields. Due to an economic depression in the 1890s, the first bachelor's degrees were not awarded at the college for 17 years.
Whittier Narrows earthquake
On October 1, 1987, at 7:42 a.m., the Whittier Narrows earthquake struck, the epicenter north-northwest of Whittier. The seismic event, which registered 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale, killed eight people and damaged many of uptown Whittier's historic buildings. Three days later, on October 4 at 3:59 a.m., a major aftershock measuring 5.2 caused further damage. Buildings and residential structures that were already borderline unsafe were now deemed unsafe or uninhabitable. In the years following the earthquake, the city's deteriorating uptown business district became the focus of renewed development, meeting opposition from many Whittier citizens. The Whittier Conservancy was formed in 1987 to stop the demolition of many historic buildings and residences after the disaster. The city also created a Historic Resources Commission to oversee the approval of landmark designations, historic districts, and Mills Act proposals. The Whittier Narrows earthquake destroyed The Quad at Whittier, a shopping mall that was rebuilt.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , virtually all land.
Whittier is bordered by Hacienda Heights to the northeast, City of Industry to the north, and several other unincorporated communities in the San Gabriel Valley mostly along its northern sections. Pico Rivera lies to the west, La Habra Heights to the east, La Habra to the southeast, and Santa Fe Springs to the south.
Neighborhoods
thumb|Tree-lined street in Uptown Whittier
Whittier has several neighborhoods. The area around Philadelphia Street and Greenleaf Avenue is known as Uptown Whittier and contains the traditional central business core. Just north of it are the neighborhoods known as Central Park and Hadley-Greenleaf. They have been designated historic districts by the city Historic Resources Commission and comprise most of the Whittier Historic Neighborhood Association area. These districts contain many Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival homes. In and abutting the hills north of the historic districts is Starlite Estates. The area surrounding Whittier College is known as College Hills and was also designated a historic district, as has a small cluster of homes along Earlham Drive.
| date = February 2011