Norwalk, CA news and local guide

After the Mexican-American War and statehood, parts of the rancho land were subdivided and offered for sale, and word reached the Sproul brothers in Oregon, who remembered the fertile land and huge sycamores they had seen on an earlier visit. In 1869 Atwood Sproul, on behalf of his brother Gilbert, bought 463 acres at $11 an acre in an area known as Corazon de los Valles, "heart of the valleys." By 1873 railroads were being built in the area, and the Sprouls deeded 23 acres with a clause requiring a passenger stop. Three days after the Anaheim Branch Railroad first crossed the "north-walk," Gilbert Sproul surveyed a townsite, and the name Norwalk was officially recorded in 1874. Though most of the countryside stayed undeveloped through the 1880s, the Norwalk station let prospective residents from across the country visit, and the Sprouls and other "first families" settled there. Sources Wikipedia: Norwalk, California