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The History of Orange County

The History of Orange County on July 24

Dr. Jeff Hittenberger – Chief Academic Officer, OC Superintendent Office will be speaking about the history of Orange County.

An abridged history: The first people to live in Orange County came here thousands of years ago. They lived by hunting and fishing, and gathering plants and seeds. Later, Shoshonean-speaking people arrived, the ancestors of the tribes we know today as the Juaneño and the Gabrielino.Though Spain had claimed California for more than 200 years, it was not until 1769 that the first efforts were made to colonize the area. Mexico broke away from Spain in 1821, taking California with them. In 1834, the Mexican government began the secularization of the California missions, restricting the padres to their religious duties, and placing civil administrators in charge of the operation of the missions.The Gold Rush of 1849 brought tens of thousands of new settlers to California. This gave the rancheros a new market for their cattle, which were sold as beef to feed hard-working miners. The local economy soared. But a series of droughts, floods, and diseases – along with the cost of defending the ownership of their lands in the American courts – eventually drove many of the rancheros to ruin.

Some of the old ranchos were sold to American owners with names like Stearns, Bixby and Irvine.

In 1868, vast areas on either side of the Santa Ana River were placed on the market, and the towns of Santa Ana, Tustin, Orange, Westminster, and Garden Grove were soon founded. Farming became the backbone of the local economy. Wine and raisin grapes, wheat, barley, and corn were all successful. In the 1870s, new irrigation systems were built, which allowed more trees crops to be planted, including walnuts, apricots, and oranges.

The burst of economic growth and local pride in the late 1880s led to the formation of the County of Orange in 1889. As early as 1870, local residents had tried to break away from Los Angeles and form their own county, but it was not until 1889 that the California Legislature passed a bill to allow a vote on county division.