The history of the Valley does not exist outside the context of Los Angeles. The two locales grew up as neighbors for more than a century before they were united in 1915. The website L.A. Observed reports on a cool find at the Library of Congress website: 29 seconds of historic Thomas Edison motion picture footage shot in downtown L.A. in 1897. You can download the film snippet and see what Spring Street looked like before motor cars came to town and everything changed.

For perspective, in 1897 the southern half of the Valley was still mostly wheat fields overseen by Isaac Van Nuys. North of today's Roscoe Boulevard were more fields, open range land and the first citrus groves. Mission San Fernando Rey was still in ruins, used as a hog farm; fewer than 3,000 people lived in the entire basin. The first three images in the Photo Gallery give you a good idea what the Valley looked like at the time.

If you want to place 1897 in the big picture of the Valley's evolution, check out the exclusive America's Suburb.com timeline.