Campo (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "Field") is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the Mountain Empire area of southeastern

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

, United States. The population was 2,955 at the 2020 United States census. The

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

defines Campo as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP). The CDP includes three distinct settlements: Campo, Cameron Corners and Morena Village. Cameron Corners is about north of Campo. Morena Village is located several miles further north, just east of Morena Dam. These communities all use Campo postal addresses and the ZIP Code 91906.

History

In 1868, Silas and Luman Gaskill opened the

Gaskill Brothers' Stone Store The Gaskill Brothers Stone Store (also known as the Campo Stone Store) is a historical building in Campo, California, built in 1868 by the Gaskill brothers as a general store. It is a California Historical Landmark No. 411, listed on November 15, ...

as one of the first residents in the area. Seven years later in 1875, the store became the site of one of the deadliest Old West shootouts in California, with eight killed as the gang of bandits failed to raid the store. Morena Dam was constructed between 1896 and 1912 to provide water to the San Diego area. Campo was a station on the

San Diego and Arizona Railway The San Diego and Arizona Railway was a short line U.S. railroad founded by entrepreneur John D. Spreckels, and dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved. It linked San Diego, ...

, completed in 1919. Campo was a military town during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was known as

Camp Lockett file:Camp_Lockett_map.jpg, World War II map of Camp Lockett Camp Lockett was a United States Army military post in Campo, California, east of San Diego, and north of the Mexico – United States border, Mexican border. Camp Lockett has historica ...

. It was home to a veterans' convalescent hospital, a 300-bed Italian

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

in Cameron Corners and an all African-American Buffalo Soldiers Cavalry unit which patrolled the border on horseback until 1944. The United States military continues activities nearby at

La Posta Mountain Warfare Training Facility Mountain Warfare Training Camp Michael Monsoor (formerly known as La Posta Mountain Warfare Training Facility) is a training facility in San Diego County, California, used by the Naval Special Warfare Center. At elevation, it sits on of land ...

Geography

Nearby communities include

Boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district. In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...

, Potrero,

Tecate Tecate () is a city in Tecate Municipality, Baja California. It is across the Mexico–United States border, Mexico–US border from Tecate, California. As of 2019, the city had a population of 108,860 inhabitants, while the metropolitan area ha ...

, Dulzura, Jacumba, Pine Valley,

Mount Laguna Mount Laguna is a small census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. It is approximately above sea level in a forest of Jeffrey pine, east of San Diego in the Laguna Mountains on the eastern edge of the Cleveland National Fores ...

, Descanso, and Jamul. According to the

, the CDP covers an area of 23.5 square miles (60.7 km), 99.97% of it land, and 0.03% of it water. It is southeast of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Climate

Campo has a

hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

( Csa) with hot, dry summers and cool, relatively wet winters. The

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

is large throughout the year.

Demographics

Campo first appeared as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2010 U.S. Census.

2020 census

The 2020 United States census reported that Campo had a population of 2,955. The population density was . The racial makeup of Campo was 59.9%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.6%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 5.2% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.2%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 13.8% from other races, and 16.5% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 36.8% of the population. The census reported that 98.6% of the population lived in households, 1.4% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 969 households, out of which 34.9% included children under the age of 18, 49.4% were married-couple households, 7.3% were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 21.1% had a female householder with no partner present, and 22.2% had a male householder with no partner present. 22.4% of households were one person, and 10.0% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.01. There were 688

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(71.0% of all households). The age distribution was 25.6% under the age of 18, 7.7% aged 18 to 24, 24.3% aged 25 to 44, 26.3% aged 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 39.0years. For every 100 females, there were 110.0 males. There were 1,036 housing units at an average density of , of which 969 (93.5%) were occupied. Of these, 73.3% were owner-occupied, and 26.7% were occupied by renters.

Features

Campo is home to three museums: the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, the Motor Transport Museum and the

. A CDF fire station is located at 31577 State Route 94. The 1998 Cameron Corners, California 7.5-minute quadrangle plots the station near Dewey Place and SR 94. A Southern California Automobile Association map, believed to be c. 1910–1930, shows a business named "Dewey Store" in Cameron Corners. The business is plotted on the north side of SR 94 just east of County Road S1. This may be a variant name of Dewey Place. There is a county road maintenance station on Forrest Gate Road and a county fire station at Jeb Stewart and Parker roads. Large employers in the area include US Department of Homeland Security

Border Patrol A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diffe ...

and the San Diego County, California Probation, Juvenile Ranch Facility, (population 250). According to a September 9, 2004 ''San Diego Union Tribune'' article, foster care activist Father Joe Carroll proposed building a foster camp for children here. The proposed name was, "Promiseland Ranch," and the proposed facility would encompass about . Although the project was approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2008, it has since been abandoned for lack of funds. Campo is near the official southern terminus of the

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

, a recreational hiking and equestrian trail extending north to the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

Transportation

An unnamed private air strip is at 332 degrees off true north at . The name of the field is not listed in the National Geographic Names Data Base or U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Location Identifiers (7350.7U) dated 09/01/2005 (2005-09-01). On the topographic map, it measures about in length and runs almost due north–south at the intersection of Lake Morena Drive and Hauser Creek Road. The town is along the line of the former

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

(originally the

). Freight operations are currently embargoed (not offered) by the Carrizo Gorge Railway (currently the

Pacific Imperial Railroad The Pacific Imperial Railroad (reporting mark PIR) was a company in possession of the SD&AE Desert Line right of way in Southern California, colloquially referred to as the Desert Line. The Desert Line starts at the border crossing at Division, n ...

), while passenger operations are operated by the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum. The Railroad Museum shows an address of 750 Depot Street and is located near (NAD83) .Campo, California 7.5-minute quadrangle, U.S. Geological Survey, 1997.

Tribal areas

There are at least two tribal areas included in the nearby

Campo Indian Reservation The Campo Indian Reservation is home to the Campo Band of Diegueño Mission Indians, also known as the Campo Kumeyaay Nation, a federally recognized tribe of Kumeyaay people in the southern Laguna Mountains, in eastern San Diego County, Califo ...

. One is about due north of Campo and adjoining Cameron Corners. A point inside the reservation is (NAD83) ) and the area is roughly on each side. The reservation government is the Campo Band of Mission Indians. Another tribal area is about east along State Route 94 in the Campo Valley. It extends to the north and beyond

Interstate 8 Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, ...

. The eastern portion of the reservation is about in an east–west dimension and includes the community of Live Oak Springs. The tribal government has been reported in the news media to provide wireless Internet service to members over a cooperative tribal government microwave backbone from

Pala Pala may refer to: Places Chad *Pala, Chad, the capital of the region of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest Estonia * Pala, Kose Parish, village in Kose Parish, Harju County * Pala, Kuusalu Parish, village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County * Pala, Järva County, ...

Schools

31360 State Route 94: federal records report three schools in Campo. The schools are: * Rancho Del Campo High School - Juvenile Ranch (Detention) Facility (9–12) * Campo Elementary School (K-8) * Campo Continuation (at the old Campo Elementary School) * Hillside Alternative Junior/Senior High (7–12) * Cottonwood Community Day (7–12) * Mountain Empire Junior/Senior High (7–12) About north in Cameron Corners, Campo Elementary (K-6) is located at 1654 Buckman Springs Rd. This is considered in Campo for postal addresses.US Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics, 2005.

References

External links

San Diego County Probation Department description of the Juvenile Ranch Facility (JRF)

Sheriff's Department description of Campo juvenile facility.

The Motor Transport Museum

Lake Morena Views Mutual Water Company

Lake Morena's Oak Shores Mutual Water Company

Mountain Health Community Center
{{authority control Census-designated places in California Census-designated places in San Diego County, California Mountain Empire (San Diego County)