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Downey was founded on October 23, 1873, and named for John Gately Downey, an Irish immigrant who became California's youngest-ever governor and its first foreign-born governor.

Governor Downey pioneered the modern subdivision around 1865 with land he acquired between the Rio Hondo and the San Gabriel River, and his imported orange varieties helped make citrus one of California's biggest cash crops.

Downey was not incorporated as a city until December 17, 1956, more than 80 years after its founding.

Downey is the birthplace of the Apollo space program: the North American Rockwell plant there employed more than 25,000 people on Apollo, and the site later worked on the Space Shuttle program from 1979 into the 1990s.

Aviation in Downey goes back to 1929, and during World War II the Vultee Aircraft plant in Downey manufactured some 13,000 aircraft for the military before becoming part of North American Aviation.

Downey is home to the oldest operating McDonald's restaurant in the world, built in 1953 at the corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Florence Avenue with oversized golden arches from the chain's early design.

The first Taco Bell restaurant opened in Downey in 1962, adding to the city's fast-food firsts.

Downey had a population of 114,355 at the 2020 census, with about 34,900 households averaging roughly 3.2 people each; the city sits 13 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles among the Gateway Cities.

Downey is the hometown of singing duo Richard and Karen Carpenter, who attended high school in the city.

The Columbia Memorial Space Center, a 20,000-square-foot hands-on science museum that opened in 2009 on the former aerospace plant site, commemorates Downey's Apollo and Space Shuttle heritage.