In early 1874, the area that is now South Pasadena was a part of the San Gabriel-Orange Grove Association. In 1875, the stockholders of the association voted to name their town Pasadena and just three years later, residents living in the southern portion of Pasadena considered themselves South Pasadenans.
In February of 1888, in order to control their own territory, South Pasadenans voted eighty-five to twenty-five for incorporation. A board of trustees was elected and Ammon B. Cobb was appointed as the first marshal, with Marshal B. Selmen as his deputy.
On March 2, 1888, South Pasadena officially incorporated with a population of slightly over 500. The City’s boundaries established in 1889 are essentially the same today. South Pasadena consists of 3.44 square miles of prime residential property. In 1876, unimproved land with water was selling from $75 to $150 an acre. Today a vacant lot in South Pasadena can be sold for more than $200,000.