In the distant past, the Shoshone Indians came to dwell along the coast and in the lower canyons of the mountains. Theirs was a simple form of existence: they lived off of the abundance of the land. First, as a part of Los Angeles County, Orange County would become a vital part of the Southern California economy.

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Orange County California Entertainment
Orange County California Information
Orange County California Business Information
and Some Spanish Information

Orange County California

Airport Code SNA

Orange County Transportation

Traffic Reports, Orange County gas prices, diesel prices, bus, rail and airport schedules
Airport Code SNA

Orange County North Traffic Map

Orange County South Traffic Map


Orange County Gas Prices

Orange County Diesel Prices

OCTA Bus Transit

OCTA Metrolink Map & Schedules

OCTA & 91 Express Lanes

John Wayne Airport-Orange County Airport

John Wayne Airport-Orange County Airport Status

Orange County Performing Arts
Orange County Living Arts

Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa

Orange County Business Information
Orange County Small Business Information

Orange County

Orange County

Orange County Harbors Beaches & Parks

Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County

South Coast AQMD, South Coast Air Quality Management District

Orange County Historical Organizations

Orange County Museum of Art

Orange County Public Library

Orange County Public Library Everything Teen
Orange County Public Library Kids Page

Orange County Cities

Aliso Viejo California

Anaheim California

Anaheim Hills California

Brea California

Buena Park California

City of Buena Park California

Buena Park Chamber of Commerce

Buena Park Historical Society

Clark Regional Park

Buena Park Library

Buena Park Library Teen Calender
Buena Park Children's Library

Buena Park Gas Prices

Buena Park California Weather & Detailed 7 Day Forecast

Capistrano Beach California

Corona del Mar California

Coto De Caza California

Cliff Haven California

Costa Mesa California

Cypress California

Dana Point California

El Toro California

Foothill Ranch California

Fountain Valley California

Fullerton California

Garden Grove California

Galivan California

Hansen California

Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach is Surf City USA

Huntington Beach Art Galleries, Art Centers, Theater & Museums

Irvine California

Irvine Performing Arts
Irvine Living Arts

La Habra California

La Habra is in north west Orange County

La Palma California

Ladera Ranch California

Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach Performing Arts
Laguna Beach Living Arts

Laguna Hills California

Laguna Niguel California

Laguna Woods California

Ninety percent of the City's 4 square miles is contained within the senior citizen gated community of Laguna Woods Village.

Lake Forest California

Las Flores California

Los Alamitos California

Malibu California

Mesa Verde California

Midway City California

Mission Viejo California

Modjeska California

Newport Beach California

City of Newport Beach California

Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce

Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau

Upper Newport Bay

Newport Beach Public Library

Newport Beach Public Library Teens
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Newport Beach Gas Prices

Newport Beach Weather & Detailed 7 Day Forecast

Orange California

Elevation 148 feet.

Placentia California

Elevation 239 feet.

City of Placentia California

Placentia Chamber of Commerce

George Key Ranch Historical Park

Placentia Library
Placentia Library Children's Department

Placentia Gas Prices

Placentia California Weather & Detailed 7 Day Forecast

Rancho Santa Margarita California

Elevation 895 feet.

Rossmoor California

San Clemente California

San Juan Capistrano

The downtown area features the Mission San Juan Capistrano and the Los Rios Historic District. They all are within walking distance of each other.

San Juan Hot Springs California

Santa Ana California

Santa Ana is the Orange County Seat and largest city in Orange County
Airport Code SNA

Seal Beach California

Silverado California

South Santa Ana California

Smeltzer California

Stanton California

Surfside California

Top of the World California

Trabuco Canyon California

Tustin California

Villa Park California

Westminster California

Yorba Linda California

Orange County History

Before recorded history

The Shoshone Indians came to dwell along the coast and in the lower canyons of the mountains. Theirs was a simple form of existence: they lived off of the abundance of the land.

1769

Gaspar de Portolá, was appointed governor of Lower California. Gaspar de Portolá leads an expedition through future Orange County.

1776

Mission San Juan Capistrano is founded by Father Junipero Serra. Named for Giovanni da Capistrano, a 15th century theologian and "warrior priest" who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy, San Juan Capistrano has the distinction of being home to the oldest building in California still in use.

1801

Jose Antonio Yorba, a volunteer in the Portola expedition, returned to Santa Ana. He established the county's first rancho (Santiago de Santa Ana) in what are today the cities of Villa Park, Orange, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana.

1810

Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, 62,500 acres, was granted to José Antonio Yorba and Juan Pablo Peralta by Spanish Governor José Joaquín Arrillaga; it was the only Spanish land grant wholly in Orange County.

1812

Two earthquakes, the first on December 8, 1812 with an estimated magnitude of 7, destroyed the Great Stone Church at Mission San Juan Capistrano, where 40 worshipers died. The second on December 21 was less severe.

1834

Mission San Juan Capistrano is secularized; Indians are able to own land; Rancho Cañon de Santa Ana granted to Bernardo Yorba by Mexican Governor José Figueroa, who also granted Rancho Los Alamitos to Juan José Nieto. The later two were originally part of the Rancho Las Bolsas.

1845

Rancho Mission Viejo or La Paz granted to Augustin Olvera by Mexican Governor Pío Pico. He later sold it to Forster. In the same year Forster was granted Rancho Potrero Los Piños in the northeast corner of Orange County.

1846

War between Mexico and United States declared; Rancho Boca de la Playa granted to Emigdio Vejar and Rancho Lomas de Santiago was granted to Teodocio Yorba, both by Mexican Governor Pío Pico.

1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the war between Mexico and United States; California ceded to the United States.

1850

California becomes the thirty-first state; Los Angeles County includes future Orange County.

1857

Anaheim Colony founded on 1,165 acres purchased from Juan Pacífico Ontiveros; deal arranged by George Hansen on behalf of German settlers who arrived two years later to grow grapes.

1862

Floods, which began at the end of the previous year, were followed by a smallpox epidemic and a drought, killing people and cattle. The end of the cattle industry forced abreak up of the ranchos. James Irvine, capitalized on the downfall of the ranchos. Irvine, an Irish immigrant, established a 110,000-acre sheep ranch that is today one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in America.

1865

President Abraham Lincoln returns the Mission San Juan Capistrano to the Catholic Church.

1869

Santa Ana was founded by William Spurgeon on thirty-three of the seventy-four acres he purchased with Ward Bradford.

1870

Anaheim incorporated on February 10.

1872

First called Richland, Orange was founded by Chapman and Glassell

1874

Newport established by McFadden Brothers; port served Orange County for three decades; Garden Grove founded by Alonzo G. Cook.

1875

Southern Pacific reaches Anaheim; Richard H. Gilman plants first commercial orange grove on land that is now part of California State University, Fullerton.

1876

Anaheim is first city to incorporate in the future Orange County.

1882

First producing oil well drilled in Brea at Tonner and Brea Canyons.

1886

Disease wipes out grape industry in Anaheim, carried by leafhoppers; ; Santa Ana was incorporated as a city..

1887

Santa Ana 1887.

Silver was discovered in the Santa Ana Mountains. Hundreds of fortune seekers flocked to the "diggings." Land speculators and farmers came by rail from the East to settle in such boomtowns as Buena Park, and El Toro. Fullerton was established by Edward and George Amerige, partnering with H. Gaylord Wilshire and George Fullerton.

1888

Santa Fe railroad completed through Orange County.

1889

A year-round harvest of Valencia oranges, lemons, avocados, and walnuts made agriculture the single most important industry in early America. And with orange groves beginning to proliferate throughout the area (some 150,000 orange trees), the new county was named for the Orange. Orange County successfully broke away from Los Angeles county, Santa Ana becomes the Orange County seat.

1896

Town of Los Alamitos laid out as part of sugar-beet factory called Los Alamitos Sugar Company; new Orange County jail opens.

1900

Courthouse constructed in Santa Ana.

1901

Pacific City founded by Philip Stanton; later called Huntington Beach.

1903

Bay City founded by Philip Stanton; later called Seal Beach.

1904

Fullerton becomes a city.

1906

Newport Beach incorporates.

1909

Glenn Martin tests airplane; in 1912 would set over-water record with flight to Catalina; Huntington Beach votes to become a city.

1913

First avocado grove planted by John T. Wheedon in Yorba Linda.

1915

Seal Beach incorporates.

1917

Brea votes to become a city.

1919

Charles C. Chapman strikes oil in Placentia; Standard Oil leases property nearby.

1920

Standard drills first successful oil well in Huntington Beach.

1925

La Habra incorporates, San Clemente founded by Ole Hansen.

1926

Placentia incorporates; Coast Highway opens.

1927

Laguna Beach and Tustin become cities.

1928

San Clemente incorporates.

1929

Santiago Orange Growers become largest citrus house in Orange County.

1932

Festival of Arts begins in Laguna Beach; Walter Knott opens Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park.

1935

Newport Harbor dredged.

1942

Los Alamitos Naval Air Station and Santa Ana Army Air Base established; Irvine Ranch donates 4,000 acres for Marine Corps Air Station and 1,600 acres for Lighter-than-air Station (housing blimps).

1945

Santa Ana Army Air Base closes; Orange Coast College opens on the site in 1948, along with Southern California Bible College.

1953

Costa Mesa and Buena Park vote to become cities.

1955

Walt Disney opened his Magic Kingdom in Anaheim. Walt Disney was a noted animated films pioneer at the time. Now, here in Anahiem with his theme park, he revolutionized the entertainment world again.

1956

Aerospace industry discovers Orange County with opening of Auertontronics; Cypress and Garden Grove vote to become cities; Stanton votes to reincorporate.

1957

Westminster and Fountain Valley become cities.

1958

Santa Ana freeway (I-5) opened through Orange County.

1959

California State University, Fullerton opens.

1960

Los Alamitos incorporates

1961

San Juan Capistrano incorporates.

1962

Villa Park, once called Mountain View becomes a city.

1964

University of California, Irvine opens.

1966

California Angels baseball makes Anaheim Stadium its home.

1967

Orange County Airport dedicated; later named for John Wayne; Yorba Linda incorporates.

1971

Irvine becomes a city.

1986

Orange County Performing Arts Center opens in Costa Mesa.

1988

Mission Viejo incorporates.

1989

Dana Point and Laguna Niguel become cities.

1991

Lake Forest and Laguna Hills incorporate.

1994

Orange County declares bankruptcy; largest municipal bankruptcy in history; it emerges from bankruptcy eighteen months later; initiative passes to designate the Marine Base as a future airport site.

2000

Rancho Santa Margarita becomes a city; Laguna Woods incorporates as state's only "over 55" city.

California's National Parks

All Thirty California National Parks, Monuments, Historic Sites and Trails, Preserves, Seashores and Memorials by Location

Death Valley National Park California

Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park Junior Ranger and Webranger Programs

Joshua Tree National Park California

Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park Junior Ranger Program

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park California

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park Junior Ranger Program

All California and Nevada Road Conditions

Call 511 from most cellphones, or 877-687-6237.
Cellphone calls to 511 may be misdirected near state lines.

Orange County & Mountain Highways

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