In 1953, William du Pont, Jr. bought the Kellogg Estate in the Coachella Valley, between Indio and Palm Springs, California. The investment was made partially by the Suburban Wilmington Development Company and partially by du Pont. In December 1953, the Suburban Wilmington Development Company sold its portion to Shapdale, Inc.

William du Pont, Jr. planned to create a ranch with a plantation of fruit and citrus trees, houses for rent, a house for his family to stay in during the winter months, a horse arena, and tennis courts. He wrote to his partner R. Schisler on June 9, 1958: "All-in-all the developments near us are rapidly transforming the area round Point Happy into Western America's most desirable winter location." For instance, Hollywood actor Bert Lancaster purchased land south and east of the du Pont and Schisler properties.

Point Happy, Inc., was incorporated in California between 1956 and 1958 as a subsidiary of Shapdale, Inc., to develop and operate real estate and grow fruit and citrus trees (see letters to former tenants of the property with demand to vacate houses, June 1, 1958). In April 1961, du Pont made an offer to purchase all of Shapdale, Inc.'s Point Happy, Inc., stock (see letter of April 10, 1961, in Correspondence-Shapdale, Inc.). He transferred stocks of the corporation to the trust held at the Delaware Trust Company for his second wife Margaret and their son William du Pont III. However, since the couple had divorced in 1964, Happy Point was not mentioned in his will as the property of Margaret Osborne du Pont. In her letters of 1967, Jean du Pont McConnell, William du Pont, Jr.'s daughter, discussed the transfer of Point Happy management to Harboe Management Service, Inc., of Indio, California.

The president of Point Happy, Inc., was John E. Sisson, a Los Angeles attorney and a friend of William du Pont, Jr.; the assistant secretary was F. A. C. Vosters Jr. from Wilmington, Delaware.