"Welcome to Fontana" Fontana by steeleed

Fontana is rich in history; however some of the history has a dark side.

In the Southridge area of Fontana you can see part of the hills look like they were hit with a bomb. Actually, they were blown up a hundred years ago or so to produce small rocks to be used on the base of railroad tracks.

Later, Fontana was home of many wine vineyards. The vineyards were later known as felony flats as it was a favorite place to dump dead bodies.

When World War II started, America had a urgent requirement to produce steel for warships. At that time, according to our best intelligence, our enemies could shoot missiles 50 miles from the coast. Fontana is 53 miles inland, so it was the perfect place for a steel mill. Kaiser Steel plant was born to support the war effort. It produced steel after the war until the early 80s. Unfortunately, it was the largest polluter in the inland valley and could not cost effectively produce steel and meet environmental regulations. The closure of the steel mill economically devastated the Fontana. Part of the plant is now is California Steel which refinishes steel imported from Japan.

California was also host to a Chapter of the Hells Angeles back in the day when they were an outlaw gang.

Fontana was also home to a Chapter of the KKK.

It is also strongly rumored that Al Capone had a winter home in Fontana.

Starting in the 80s, Fontana experienced exponential growth because of its reasonable real estate prices. It is currently one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.

And last but not least, it is home to the California Speedway which is one of the few tracks which host two NASCAR races a year.

Welcome to Fontana!