A TIMELINE OF ORANGE COUNTY HISTORY
From ORANGE COUNTY— THE GOLDEN PROMISE An Illustrated History by Pamela Hallan-Gibson

Used by permission. SEE Books for Sale
1769 Gaspar de Portolá leads expedition through future Orange County. Experiences first recorded earthquake while camped along the banks of the Santa Ana River.
1775 First attempt to established Mission San Juan Capistrano unsuccessful. Soldiers and priests called back to San Diego to quell an Indian uprising.
1776 Mission San Juan Capistrano is founded by Father Junipero Serra, seventh in Alta California chain.
1777 Mission is moved to its current location because of poor water sources at its original site; first site is believed to have been three miles to the east.
1784 Rancho Las Bolsas, seven-square leagues in size, was granted to Manuel Nieto by Spanish Governor Pedro Fages; it was in both Orange and Los Angeles Counties.
1806 Great Stone Church completed at Mission after nine years of construction; feasting for three days.
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 Great Stone Church destroyed in earthquake of 1812, 39 killed.
1818 Hippolyte Bouchard, privateer, raids the Mission; treasure stories begin when missionaries take valuables to Trabuco Hills.
1821 Mexico declares independence from Spain; death knell for Missions.
1834 Mission secularized; Indians 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.
1835 Richard Henry Dana, author of two Years Before the Mast, visits Orange County for the first time aboard the trading ship, Pilgrim.
1837 Rancho Cienega de las Ranas granted to José Sepúlveda and San Juan Cajón de Santa Ana was granted to Juan Pacífico Ontiveros, both by Mexican Governor Juan B. Alvarado. Addition land, La Bolsa de San Joaquín, was granted in 1842 to Sepúlveda. Together his two ranchos formed Rancho San Joaquín.
1839 Ranch La Habra, partly in Los Angeles county, was granted to Mariano R. Roldan, by Manuel Jimeno.
1841 San Juan Capistrano becomes official Mexican pueblo; Rancho Bolsa Chica granted to Joaquín Ruiz by Mexican Governor Juan B. Alvarado, after its separation from Rancho Las Bolsas; Alvarado also grants Rancho Trabuco to Santiago Arguello.
1842 Rancho Cañada de Los Alisos granted to José Serrano and Rancho Niguel granted to José Ávila by Mexican Governor Juan B. Alvarado.
1843 Rios tract, just seven acres, was granted to Santiago Rios by Mexican Governor Manuel Micheltorena. It was wholly within the boundaries of Rancho Boca de la Playa.
1845 Mission sold at public auction to John Forster and James McKinley for $710 in gold and hides. Forster uses it as his residence; 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 war; California ceded to United States.
1849 Gold discovered in North; positive impact on cattle industry in South.
1850 California becomes thirty-first state; Los Angeles County includes future Orange County.
1851 U. S. Land Commission formed, requiring rancho titles to be confirmed.
1852 Famous horse race between Sarco, sponsored by Andrés and Pío Pico and Black Swan, sponsored by José Sepúlveda on which nearly $50,000 in goods and money was wagered; Black Swan won.
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. End of cattle industry forces break up of ranchos.
1865 Abraham Lincoln returns Mission San Juan Capistrano to Catholic Church.
1868 Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana partitioned; more than 100 heirs, creditors claim an interest.
1869 Santa Ana founded by William Spurgeon on thirty-three of the seventy-four acres he purchased with Ward Bradford. He began selling lots a year later.
1870 Westminster founded by Presbyterian minister Lemuel P. Webber; Joel Congdon plants first English walnuts.
1872 Orange founded by Chapman and Glassell, was originally called Richland.
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 James Irvine buys out partners to acquire Irvine Ranch on part of former Rancho San Joaquín; Madame Helena Modjeska, polish actress, emigrates with family, settling in Anaheim a short time; Anaheim is first city in the county to incorporate.
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 incorporates.
1887 Fullerton established by Edward and George Amerige, partnering with H. Gaylord Wilshire and George Fullerton; Buena Park established.
1888 Santa Fe railroad completed through Orange County, bringing boom towns in its wake; Orange incorporates.
1889 Orange County successfully breaks away from Los Angeles to become a county in its own right. Santa Ana declared county seat.
1891 McFaddens open Santa Ana and Newport Railroad with connections to Santa Fe; gone by 1902.
1892 Francisco Torres lynched, taken from three-cell jail on Sycamore St., Santa Ana.
1896 Town of Los Alamitos laid out as part of sugar-beet factory complex called Los Alamitos Sugar Company; new Orange County jail opens.
1898 Santa Ana's Company L activated for Spanish American War; also for WWI and WWII.
1900 Courthouse constructed. [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 Pacific Electric's red cars reach Orange County at Seal Beach; later pushed on to Huntington Beach and by 1905, to Newport Beach; 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.
1911 Stanton incorporates for first time to avoid becoming sewer farm; disincorporates in 1924.
1913 First avocado grove planted by John T. Wheedon in Yorba Linda.
1914 Bonds passed to pave 108 miles of roads in Orange County.
1915 Seal Beach incorporates.
1917 United States enters World War I; 1,600 Orange County residents serve; Brea votes to become a city.
1918 War ends; building boom in Orange County.
1919 Charles C. Chapman strikes oil in Placentia; Standard leases property nearby.
1920 Standard drills first successful oil well in Huntington Beach; land boom follows.
1921 Eddie Martin Airport opens; no relation to Glenn Martin.
1924 Dana Point development opens; S. H. Woodruff acquires it in 1926.
1925 La Habra incorporates.
1926 Placentia incorporates; Coast Highway opens.
1927 Metropolitan Water District formed; by 1928 Anaheim and Santa Ana were members. Laguna Beach and Tustin become cities.
1928 San Clemente incorporates; founded by Ole Hansen in 1925.
1929 Santiago Orange Growers become largest citrus house in county.
1932 Festival of Arts begins in Laguna Beach; Knott's Berry Farm opens.
1933 Earthquake shakes Orange County; Santa Ana hardest hit. Cupola on courthouse destroyed.
1935 Newport Harbor dredged.
1938 Flooding causes devastation; bridges washed out.
1941 United States enters World War II; Orange County on brink of change.
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 Disneyland opens in Anaheim; major expansion would come forty-six years later; La Palma formerly Dairyland incorporates.
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 Stewart Fire burns thousands of acres along Ortega Highway; Santa Ana freeway opens 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.
1975 War in Vietnam ends; many refugees relocate to Orange County.
1980 Crystal Cathedral opens.
1986 Orange County Performing Arts Center opens.
1987 Airport expansion completed; Air California bought out by American Airlines.
1988 Mission Viejo incorporates.
1989 Dana Point and Laguna Niguel become cities.
1990 After several attempts, a half cent sales tax passes for freeway expansion.
1991 Lake Forest and Laguna Hills incorporate.
1993 Base closures announced by federal government; El Toro Marine Corps Air Station on the list, sparking re-use controversy.
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.
1995 Orange County Board of supervisors designated as reuse authority for El Toro Marine Base; base closes in 1999; Navy still retains ownership.
2000 Rancho Santa Margarita becomes a city; Laguna Woods incorporates as state's only "over 55" city.
2001 Board adopts plan for el Toro base reuse; opponents place initiative on ballot to overturn earlier designation as commercial airport; new designation is for a park; Aliso Viejo becomes Orange County's 34th city.
2002 Initiative overturns airport designation for El Toro base; rezones the property for park, recreation, open space and other selected uses. Book ends here.
2003
2004