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8 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | SEPTEMBER 2026 By Annette Hillis, Resident Solera Diamond Valley was not always the cozy bedroom community it is now. The land and its people, have a history. It began with the American annexation of California in the late 1850s, when large sections of land grants were split up. An extremely specific parcel was named Page Ranch, after its owners, and became an agricultural mecca for over a century. However, the land's identity shifted permanently in the late 1990s with the highly anticipated construction of the Diamond Valley Lake reservoir. It was this construction, and the promise of an adjoining, full-blown resort, that made the area prime territory for residential expansion. Upon hearing this, the Page family decided to transition away from their century-old farming tradition and sell their land to housing developers, who re-imagined it as Rancho Diamante. The developers, Benchmark Pacific and Del Webb/PulteGroup, broke ground in 2006 on the 150-acre, age-restricted enclave. But the name Rancho Diamante was not to last long. For consumer marketing purposes, the developers formally launched the subdivision under the corporate series name "Solera" and then attached it to "Diamond Valley" to tie the neighborhood directly to the newly constructed reservoir nearby. Solera Diamond Valley was but one in a long line of senior housing communities in the United States, and Del Webb was a major inf luence in that movement. Delbert Eugene Webb (1899 – 1974), pictured inset, entirely revolutionized the concept of "active adult" retirement. He made a conscious decision to f lip the paradigm. No more were seniors to be relegated to the back porch rocking chair. In 1960, he imagined that post-WWII retirees wanted something more — namely, adventure, sports, and peer socialization. Skeptics believed this new idea would fail. Undeterred, Webb began his grand experiment in Sun City, Arizona, by building a golf course, shopping center, recreation hall, and swimming pool before a single home was sold. He wanted potential buyers to see and appreciate the lifestyle first. Over 100,000 people swarmed the grand opening. Little did he know at the time, but Webb had successfully founded an overlooked niche. He even found himself on the cover of Time magazine. Despite devoting his life, including his later years, to building active adult homes for thousands of retirees, Webb himself never retired. In fact, his brand outlived him. Eventually, the Del Webb corporation merged with PulteGroup in 2001, but Webb himself had continued to manage his business empire right up until his death from surgery complications in 1974. For 55+ communities like Solera Diamond Valley, his legacy lives on. Twenty Years of Connection – The Land

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