Homestead Museum Free Public Tours Sunday

Free Public Tours Sunday at Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum - see INFO below. Come and explore a hidden treasure like no other in Greater Los Angeles. Located in the heart of a former Mexican rancho, the Homestead Museum's houses, cemetery, gardens, and stories will surprise you from start to finish. Following the discovery of oil on land owned in the Montebello hills, the Workmans' grandson, Walter P. Temple, and his wife, Laura, purchased a portion of the Homestead in 1917. Adjacent to the Workman House, the family built an exquisite Spanish Colonial Revival mansion which came to be known as La Casa Nueva (The New House). During the 1920s, Temple was involved in numerous business endeavors ranging from oil drilling to real estate development. In 1923 he founded the Town of Temple, known today as Temple City. Sadly, like the Workmans, the Temples lost their wealth through failed oil and real estate investments, and lost the Homestead to foreclosure in 1932. The property was used as a boys' military school and a convalescent hospital before the City of Industry purchased the property in the 1960s and '70s. Following several years of restoration, the museum opened in May 1981. More Info below.