Indian Wells became a city on July 14, 1967. Some of the palms along Highway 111 had already been growing for about 40 years by then.
That gap shapes how the 60th anniversary is beginning. The city's 60th birthday is still eight months away. In his July column, the City Manager promised the anniversary would be celebrated "all year long," and the City Manager Corner said details were coming. Meanwhile, the anniversary-linked projects on the city's schedule this fall mostly honor things that are older than Indian Wells itself. These include palms from the date-farm era, neighborhoods laid out in the early 1960s and a fire chief who volunteered for three decades. The city is starting its 60th by naming what came before 1967.
The Oldest Thing on Highway 111 Is the Landscaping
On September 4, the City of Indian Wells announced plans to replace 95 palm trees along Highway 111. According to the release, those trees were planted nearly 100 years ago, "when the area was primarily composed of date farms." The city says some of them may look healthy from the outside but have reached the end of their expected lifespan. They will be removed rather than relocated, and new date palms will go in.
That makes the replacements a deliberate choice. Indian Wells is planting the same kind of tree the corridor started with, so the farm-era look of Highway 111 carries into the city's next 60 years. The city's own history page credits Caleb Cook with pioneering the valley's date industry, establishing its first sizable Deglet Noor garden and importing Saidy palms from Egypt. A 2021 Desert Sun report on the valley's shrinking farmland described date orchards that once lined both sides of Highway 111 in Indian Wells. It said the older palms still standing were remnants of those orchards and that local date farming peaked around 1950.
The City Projects page puts the palm work in an October through December 2026 window. It lists 35 corridor palms in "poor" condition and 195 in "fair" condition. It also says the city moved from a phased plan to a concurrent one to get quantity pricing and remove trees identified as potential hazards. In practice, much of the corridor's oldest canopy is scheduled to turn over in a single season rather than a few trees a year.
The palms are also only one layer of the corridor work. Over the summer, the city scheduled the removal of 4.45 acres of city-maintained turf behind the Highway 111 sidewalks, to be replaced with drought-tolerant planting and smart or drip irrigation. The turf right next to the roadway stays, to "maintain the appearance of its iconic corridor."
Two Names From the Founding Era Are Going on Buildings
The palms connect the anniversary to the city's farm roots. The renamings connect it to the people who built the city afterward.
Fire Station No. 55 is being renamed for Richard "Dick" Oliphant, the city's first fire chief and a former mayor. The community garden is being renamed for Jan Oliphant, founder of the Indian Wells Garden Club, and its plot space is being expanded. The city says each naming will be commemorated as part of the 60th anniversary celebration.
KESQ's July report on Oliphant, who died at 92, covers why the names fit. He volunteered with the fire service for three decades. His best-known projects include the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the Indian Wells Golf Resort and the Classic Club golf course. Richard and Janice Oliphant also helped secure the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus. Mayor Toper Taylor told KESQ that a bust or statue of Oliphant is being commissioned for the outside of the fire station. KESQ also quoted the mayor's statement for the city:
"Dick Oliphant was the visionary mayor of Indian Wells who used his financial acumen, real estate development expertise and powerful political relationships to establish Indian Wells as a globally recognized destination for tennis, golf, luxury accommodations and a fiscally sound, safe, tranquil desert community."
Both names are going on places residents already use, a fire station and a community garden.
Two Neighborhoods Get Their Names on the Street Signs
The same approach reaches into residential streets. In September 2025, the Indian Wells Preservation Foundation proposed a Historic Neighborhood Recognition Program to the city. On April 16, 2026, the City Council approved a pilot that adds historic sign toppers in two neighborhoods whose residents had expressed support to the foundation. The city defines them by their streets:
- Desert Bel Air: the streets around Fairway Park, including Fairway Drive between Eldorado Drive and west of Cielito Drive, Vista Dorado, Altamira, Alta Colina Way, Painted Desert between Alta Colina Way and Cielito Drive, Villa Serena, Calle Tranquilidad, and Eldorado Drive between Fairway and Painted Desert.
- Indian Wells Village: Miles Avenue, Elkhorn Trail and Cheyenne Drive, near Ford Elementary School.
The city says more neighborhoods can be added if the pilot works.
Desert Bel Air shows most clearly that the history being honored is older than the city. Fillmore Crank and Robert Higgins developed Desert Bel Air Estates, and architect William F. Cody designed many of its houses. The Crank-Garland House at 75-900 Fairway Drive, built in 1961, was the subdivision's model home and became the city's fourth historic landmark in 2019. This past April, the Desert Bel Air Showcase House, another Cody design, became the first Indian Wells home on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the city's announcement, the 2,025-square-foot house has floor-to-ceiling windows facing Mount Eisenhower and the Santa Rosa Mountains, a glass passageway between its living wings, walnut paneling and a round kiva fireplace. The city says it looks much as it did when it was completed.
All of those houses date to the early 1960s, so Desert Bel Air was built several years before the city it now helps define. Other landmarks recognized by the Preservation Foundation date from the same years: the Casa Dorado condominium community and clubhouse from 1963, and William Krisel's Sandpiper Garden Condominiums in Indian Wells Country Club from 1965.
The Anniversary Projects, by the City's Own Schedule
These are the projects tied to the anniversary or to the city's history, with the timelines the city has posted.
| Project | What it honors or changes | City's listed timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Highway 111 palm replacement | Farm-era palms replaced with new date palms | October to December 2026 |
| Historic neighborhood sign toppers | Desert Bel Air and Indian Wells Village | September to October 2026 |
| Eisenhower Memorial expansion | A new stone for service members living in Indian Wells, plus walkways and landscaping | August to October 2026 |
| Janice Oliphant Community Garden | Renaming and expanded plot space | August 2026 to January 2027 |
| Richard Oliphant Fire Station No. 55 | Renaming for the first fire chief | August 2026 to February 2027 |
| Civic Center sign upgrades | New signage to be unveiled during the 60th anniversary celebrations | August 2026 to January 2027 |
Only one item looks ahead. The new Civic Center signs are being designed with the city's 60th Anniversary Committee to complement the existing monument signage. Every other item on the list honors someone or something from the city's past.
Dates to Put on the Calendar
The next few months bring several chances to see this history in person:
- Veterans Day, November 11, 10 to 11 a.m. City Hall is hosting a ceremony with light refreshments, and no RSVP is required. This is also the first Veterans Day since the Eisenhower Memorial's scheduled expansion to honor more service members living in Indian Wells.
- January 2027. The Indian Wells Preservation Foundation has an Oral History Symposium on its upcoming events page, with the time and place still to be announced.
- February 11 to 21, 2027. Modernism Week returns. Its home tours include a February 13 stop in Rancho Palmeras Estates in Indian Wells: a home designed by Walter Dunivant with Steve Chase interiors. The schedule also lists a presentation on the legacies of William F. Cody, the architect behind much of Desert Bel Air.
- July 14, 2027. Indian Wells turns 60, and the city says the celebration runs all year.
For updates, the city lists (760) 346-2489 for questions at City Hall.
At Team Armstrong, we love how much of this city's story is still visible on its streets, from the palms on Highway 111 to the Cody houses around Fairway Park. If you have a memory of Indian Wells before 1967 or a question about one of its historic neighborhoods, Contact Us. We'd be glad to hear it.
