For centuries,
the Colorado River fertilized these lands, which would
eventually become one of the most important cotton hubs
in the world. Americans, Chinese, Mexicans, East Indians,
and Japanese were so involved in productive endeavors
that they forgot to formally found the city. Combining
the words “Mexico” and “California”,
they came upon the name Mexicali. Years later, the date
March 14, 1903 was established as the official date
of Mexicalis founding.
Even though Mexicali is located in the middle of a
desert, irrigation systems enabled it to produce agricultural
products, and Mexicali became a well known cotton-producing
area. Also, assembly-line factories were established
here, creating jobs for thousands of people. The tourism
industry is also prominent, as San Felipe beaches are
within the municipality, hosting national and international
tourism year-long.
read
more here |
In 1906 W. F. Holt and C.A.
Barker purchased the land on which El Centro was eventually
built for about forty dollars an acre and invested $100,000
in improvements. As one historian of Valley life put
it, "in only five months El Centro went from a
barley field to a city...". The City of El Centro
was incorporated on April 16, 1908. Early growth was
rapid with the city's population reaching 1,610 by 1910
and more than tripling by 1920 to 5,646 people. One
reason for this rapid early growth was El Centro's successful
battle with the City of Imperial to become the county
seat.
In these early days, relationships among the cities
of the Imperial Valley were often intensely competitive,
reflecting the particular frontier character of the
area and the fact that six cities within a twenty mile
radius were all established within one generation. These
cities were in a horse race to win the prize of being
the Valley's leading city and the intense competition
is measured by the fact that it took twenty years to
get a county fair started because of strong local loyalties
on the County Board of Supervisors. By the mid-forties,
El Centro had become the second largest city in the
Imperial Valley, with a population of about 11,000 people.
read more
here and here |
|
Mision Dios Soberano,
Mexicali is a group of middle class families who broke
away from the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico
church of San Marcos because of its shallowness of teaching
and ministry style. The presbytery asked Gary to be
officiating pastor. As the BEAMM flagship church for
Mexicali, it already has a daughter mission in El Centro,
CA. The Mission has rented a storefront for meeting,
and has had to build a Sunday school room in the rear
to accommodate the growing congregation. Julio Navarro
is usually the teacher while Gary Nantt cannot be with
them, and Oran Morales, a university student and Mexicali
seminary graduate, is the guitarist and song leader.
Julio also is the board president and is leading a congregational
meeting. |
| Julio and Arlette Navarro are
the lay leaders of the Mision Dios Soberano. They have
been responsible for most of the growth of the mission
on both sides of the border. They have Bible studies in
Mexicali, Baja California Norte, and in El Centro, California,
during the week. They also witness in their work; Julio
is the distribution manager of the Imperial Valley Press,
and Arlette is an attorney. Arlete teaches the children's
Sunday School while Julio leads the adult worship/class.
They have also pastored and counselled many of the members
and several non-Christians too. Julio is studying with
Gary Nantt to be ordained by the Mexican Presbytery and
to become the official pastor of the mission. BEAMM is
trying to raise funds to allow them to be full time members
of the ministry. |
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