Indian Wells, California
city in Riverside County, California, United States
Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley. Incorporated in 1967, it lies in between the cities of Palm Desert and La Quinta. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 4,757.
The city hosts the sixth-largest tennis tournament in the world, the Indian Wells Masters tennis tournament, presently known as the BNP Paribas Open. The Indian Wells Masters is one of nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments operated by the Association of Tennis Professionals, and one of the four mandatory WTA 1000 tournaments of the Women's Tennis Association. It is held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which contains the second-largest tennis-specific stadium in the world.
History
The city derived its name from a historic Cahuilla Native American water reservoir, which served as a crucial water supply for nearby tribes.
As early as 1820, the area now known as Indian Wells was the site of a thriving Indian village, as reported by W.P. Blade, a Smithsonian Institution geologist. A decade later, when gold was discovered on the Colorado River, William D. Bradshaw built a trail from Los Angeles through the desert to the gold mines. The Alexander and Company Stage Line used the trail to transport prospectors and Indian Wells became an important stop along the trail.
The public source identifies “Indian Wells, California” as city in Riverside County, California, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Indian, Wells and California.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Indian Wells, California”, the useful work is to connect “city in Riverside County, California, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q490714. VIAF identifies the subject as 265363966. The Library of Congress control number is n82116837. Authority coordinates are 33.716, -116.341. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1967, 2020, 1000 and 1820.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Indian Wells, California”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Indian Wells, California primary sources, Indian Wells, California archive and Indian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Indian Wells, California”?
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- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Indian Wells, California” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.