Visit Whittier, California

Modern-day Whittier came about when Aquilla H. Pickering set out from Chicago to establish a new Quaker settlement in California. He traveled throughout the state before buying a 1,270-acre ranch in 1887—for a reported $55 an acre—and naming it in honor of Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. That same year the settlers enticed the Southern Pacific Railroad to build a spur to their fledgling agricultural community, resulting in a real estate boom soon after. They also set aside a parcel of land for what eventually became Whittier College, a 4-year liberal arts college and alma mater of hometown boy Richard M. Nixon.