Rancho Mirage (Images of America)

Rancho Mirage is a beautiful residential and desert-resort community nestled along the Santa Rosa Mountains, located between the cities of Palm Springs and Palm Desert in the Coachella Valley. Bighorn sheep and the Agua Caliente tribe of Cahuilla Indians were the area's early inhabitants. Date farms and ranchos developed after aquifers were discovered. Guest ranches soon followed and became favorite destinations for the rich and famous in the 1940s and 1950s. By the early 1950s, residential communities designed in classic Desert Modern style were being constructed along with the valley's first two country clubs with 18-hole golf courses. Rancho Mirage soon emerged as the "golf capital of the world" and has since grown to be a premier resort and residential community with a permanent population of 16,870 and several thousand additional winter residents who enjoy the city's 10 country clubs, three world-class resorts, and scores of restaurants.