Located in a pine-covered valley in the
San Gabriel Mountains, the Wrightwood area was first developed as cattle ranches in the 19th century by Nathan and Truman Swarthout. Later, the main ranch, owned by Sumner Wright, was broken up into residential and commercial lots, and by the 1920s a community had taken root. Early ski enthusiasts discovered the north-facing slopes of the San Gabriels above the Swarthout Valley. Until 1937, the ski area, originally known as Big Pines, was part of a Los Angeles County park. After
World War II, Big Pines opened their 1946–47 ski season with a new chairlift and the Sepp Benedikter Ski School (according to their ad in the February 1947 issue of
Western Skiing magazine). Highways were built connecting to the major routes in the Cajon Pass, making Wrightwood accessible without serious mountain driving. In 1934, on two separate occasions a black bear was shot and killed by a Wrightwood resident. J. Dale Gentry, chairman of the California Fish and Game Commission, applied pressure to file charges against the two men. One of the men, Clyde Steele, was found not guilty at trial; the charges were dropped against the other man. The former vacation community is now home to over 4,000 full-time residents.
Serrano High School in the neighboring community of
Phelan opened in 1977; it also serves Wrightwood and the neighboring community of
Piñon Hills. In August 2016, part of Wrightwood's population was evacuated as part of mandatory evacuations of over 82,000 people in
San Bernardino County due to the
Blue Cut Fire. In September 2020, the
Bobcat Fire caused evacuation warnings for the Wrightwood area as it raged across the San Gabriel Mountains. In September 2024, the
Bridge Fire caused the entire town to be evacuated. ==Geography==