Most of Bradbury was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1960.
Bradbury was founded by Lewis L. Bradbury on the homestead of Rancho Azusa de Duarte in 1881. In 1912, the Bradburys' daughter, Minerva, married Isaac Polk and built a grand mansion on the property which they named Chateau Bradbury. After years of annexation attempts by the city of Monrovia, Bradbury incorporated in 1957. The paperwork for incorporation arrived in a rush to prevent the area from becoming part of the new city of Duarte, which also incorporated on the same day, August 22, 1957. Still, many ties between the two communities remain in that they both form the Duarte Unified School District; they both share the same post office and the 91008 ZIP code; and they both share combined public services such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2017
