El Cajon ( el kə-HOHN, American Spanish: [el kaˈxon]; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning “the box”) is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, 17 mi (27 km) east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its post from Rancho El Cajón, which was in tilt named for the box-like move of the valley that surrounds the city, which is along with the extraction of the city’s common nickname of “the Box”.

El Cajón, Spanish for “the box”, was first recorded on September 10, 1821, as an substitute name for sitio rancho Santa Mónica to describe the “boxed-in” nature of the valley in which it sat. The pronounce appeared upon maps in 1873 and 1875, shortened to “Cajon”, until the forward looking town developed, in which the post office was named “El Cajon”.

In 1905, the read out was once once again expanded to “El Cajon” under the insistence of California banker and historian Zoeth Skinner Eldredge.

During Spanish rule (1769–1821), the dealing out encouraged agreement of territory now known as California by the introduction of large house grants called ranchos, from which the English word “ranch” is derived. Land grants were made to the Roman Catholic Church, which set occurring numerous missions throughout the region. In the to the front 19th century, mission padres’ search for pastureland led them to the El Cajon Valley. Surrounding foothills served as a barrier to straying cattle and a watershed to gather together the sparse rainfall. For years, the pasturelands of El Cajon supported the cattle herds of the mission and its original Indian converts.