Desert Center is a census designated place in the Colorado Desert in Riverside County, California. It is in southern California, between the cities of Indio and Blythe at the junction of Interstate 10 and State Route 177, about halfway amid Phoenix and Los Angeles. The ZIP Code is 92239, and the community is in telephone area codes 442 and 760. The height above sea level is 656 feet (200 m). The population was 204 at the 2010 census.

The town was founded in 1921 by Stephen A. Ragsdale, also known as “Desert Steve”, and his wife, Lydia. Ragsdale was an itinerant preacher and cotton farmer, originally from Arkansas. In 1915, he left his farm in the Palo Verde Valley along the Colorado River to direct some thing in Los Angeles. The road amongst Phoenix and Los Angeles was mostly sand, and Ragsdale’s vehicle broke down close a place called Gruendyke’s Well. This featured a hand-dug competently and was inhabited by a prospector named Bill Gruendyke. Gruendyke rescued Ragsdale and gave him food, shelter, and water until his vehicle was repaired and he could resume his journey to Los Angeles.

Upon his return, Ragsdale bought out Gruendyke and moved his relations to the snooty spot, where they build up a small shack later a lean-to that served as a repair garage. A Model T truck was modified to relieve as a tow car. Gasoline was pumped by hand from a 55-gallon drum. Lydia served food and refreshments to thirsty and weary travelers. In hostility of the superior location—50 miles (80 km) in any presidency from anything—the Ragsdales prospered. Ragsdale named his outpost “Desert Center”. In 1921, it was announced that the sand road presidency through Desert Center would be relocated nearly 5 miles (8.0 km) north, straightened, paved, and named U.S. Route 60, a modern “high-speed” highway. In March 1926, The San Bernardino Daily Sun reported that 21 miles of grading was visceral done on a additional road from Desert Center to Hopkins Well, changing the location of the desert highway and running higher than better soil.

Ragsdale abandoned “old Desert Center” and built a poured-concrete café in the adobe style in imitation of an attached gasoline station and a big service garage. Across the road, a series of wooden structures were built, including a market (which at one times was the largest Coleman camping equipment dealer in the country), and a name office. He then built several cabins for travelers, and a large “plunge” (swimming pool) next to the café where travelers could run away the desert heat.