Eagle Rock grew as a small farming community just north of Los Angeles on Tongva ancestral lands that had become the great eastern pasture of the Rancho San Rafael. Eagle Rock enjoyed a geographic unity and a strong identity that revolved around its prominent namesake promontory. By 1906, trolleys made for an easy commute to Los Angeles, and Eagle Rock, which incorporated as a city in 1911, became increasingly integrated in the urban fabric yet remained defined by its residential nature and small-town character. Occidental College saw the quaint neighborhood at one end of York Valley as a place to grow. The annexation of Eagle Rock by Los Angeles in 1923 brought ample water supply as well as Eagle Rock High School, a center of town life into the 21st century. Freeway construction and shifts in business patterns affected Eagle Rock's growth in the post-World War II years, but the pleasant neighborhood identity remains despite its proximity to urban bustle.