Follow these links to a growing number of articles and historic documents:

* A (Very) Brief History of Orange County

* A Children's History of Orange County

* AN ORANGE COUNTY CHRONOLOGY

Cities and Towns

* Drought, Debt, and Development - The Story of the Stearns Ranchos

* Orange County in the Sunny Seventies (1870s, that is)

* City Incorporation Elections

* How Many Names Does One Place Need?

* Early Promotional Pamphlets

* How Orange Got its Name

* Land of Sunshine / Out West features, 1894-1913

* A Brief History of Orange

* La Palma - Orange County's Dairy Land

* The Two Cities of Stanton

* Early Newport Beach

* The Incorporation of Garden Grove

* A Little about Cypress

* The Birth of Santa Ana

* Orange's Chinatown

* City of Orange Bicentennial Plaques

* Eldo West's "Notes Concerning Yorba Linda"

* Railroads and Real Estate - The Pacific Land Improvement Company

* Early Orange County Colonias

* 1868 -- The Year that Made Orange County

* Trabuco Oaks - A Canyon Community

* Orange County Post Offices

* Excerpts from the 1880 History of Los Angeles County

* The Town of San Juan Capistrano

* Re-Naming Newport Beach

Special Subjects

* A Tour of Historic Knott's Berry Farm

* San Juan Hot Springs

* The Biggest Fire You've (N)ever Heard of

* The Six Most Common Mistakes About the History of Orange County

* A Few Words on Williams Canyon

* Great Movies Shot in Orange County

* Early Films of Orange County

* Water Wars on the Santa Ana River

* Historic Place Names in Orange County

* Orange County's World War II Military Bases

* Orange County's State Historical Landmarks

* The Santa Ana Winds

* Orange County Night Clubs

* Historic Spots in O’Neill Park

* The Silverado Mining Boom of 1878

* Historic Maps of Orange County

* Orange County’s Population

* Indian Village Names in Orange County

* Orange County’s 13-Star Flag - Who’s Hoaxing Who?

* The Placentia Grasseaters

People

* W.T. Glassell - The Real "Father" of Orange

* Helena Modjeska

* Joseph Thurston's Laguna Beach of Early Days

* Orange County’s First Rancheros – Manuel Nieto and Juan Pablo Grijalva

* Juan Orosco - A Forgotten Lawman

* Some Orange County Historians

* Jake Yaeger - Orange County Miner

* Ong Q. Tow, Chinese Businessman and Soldier

* Pioneer Harvest - The Life of Walter Knott

Agriculture

* King Citrus and Queen Valencia

* Citrus Beginnings - Who Planted the First Oranges in Orange County?

Transportation

* The Imperial Highway

* Three Road Trips (along historic Orange County highways)

* The Southern Pacific - Orange County's First Railroad

* Stage Coach Days in Orange County

* Past in the Pavement - Orange County's Historic Street Names

* A Brief History of the Orange County Airport

Businesses

* The Arches (now A Restaurant)

* The Oil Industry in Orange County

Newspapers

* Local News, Local Views - The Story of the Orange Post

* The Anaheim Gazette and its Publishers

* The Orange County Register

* 19th Century Orange County Newspapers

Government

* The Birth of Orange County

* "Fools Rush In" - Politics and Gambling in 1930s Orange County

* The Best Little Hospital in Orange County

* The Old Orange County Courthouse

Schools, Churches, and Organizations

* Orange County School Districts

* A Brief History of Scouting in Orange County

* The 1953 Boy Scout Jamboree

* Religion in Early Anaheim

* The Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church

* Early Kindergarten in Orange

* The First One Hundred Years of West Orange Elementary, 1890-1990

Spanish Missions and Mexican Ranchos

* The Portolá Expedition in Orange County

* Mission Adobes and Outposts in Orange County

* The Yorba Family Ranchos

* The Trabuco Adobe

* The Legend of the Swallows

* The Rancho Trabuco

Ask a Local Historian

 

About Me