R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
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Dr. Clark may need to dial back the geographical gloat-o-meter just a bit. How much pristine beauty can one take, anyway? Where’s that legendary California urban sprawl?
The sprawl is about 30 miles to our south or 100 miles to our north. Escondido was a agricultural town for a long time. In the 70s and 80s it began to turn into a bedroom community as the Ag business (citrus, avocados, and dairy) receded and re-located. There are still citrus groves to our Southeast. The orange trees that sat on the seminary property for more than two decades are mostly gone now but we live on what was, not long ago, a small pasture. Our citrus does well—good fertilizer! Escondido is more urban today than it has ever been but it retains a good bit of its rural character. We still have a charming, old (for California) downtown area. I’ll try to find some good photos of old Escondido.
I checked the population of Escondido online. In Mississippi, a city that size IS urban sprawl.