OldTowneOrange.com

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A History of Orange

Old Towne Orange

Some people call it the town square and some people refer to it as a traffic circle, but in July of 1871 the center of the City of Orange

was only a stake in the ground and a dream in the minds of Andrew Glassell and Alfred Chapman.

That stake was at the center of an oval, 170 feet by 200 feet, which is now called Plaza Park, the heart of the Plaza Historic District.

The Plaza Park today consists of an oval park with trees and shrubs and a fountain dating from 1937.

Most of the trees date back over a hundred years and the park itself was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978

and is the oldest dedicated parkland in Orange County. There are four memorial plaques on the fountain.

While common in other parts of the country this is one of the few remaining places in California

where you can still drive around a park in the middle of a street.

 The Plaza Historic District is at the center of the original one square mile area where the City of Orange began.

This area, which was staked out by Capt. William Glassell, Andrews brother, is known as Old Towne Orange.

This square mile area is bisected by Glassell Street going north and south and Chapman Avenue going east and west.

Glassell & Chapman divide Old Towne Orange into four perfect quarter square mile sections.

To see history first hand all you have to do is take a walk around town.

We have a short walking tour, which encompasses most of the business district

and a long walking tour which spreads out into the historic homes of the area.

Old Towne Orange is known as "The Antique Capital of California". The square mile around the Old

Plaza is somewhat of an antique itself. Many of the commercial buildings and homes in that square

mile are on the National Register of Historic Places. At the center of the shopping and dining is

an old-fashioned traffic circle with a quaint park full of mature trees and a classic old fashioned

water fountain. Among the eateries in Old Towne, you'll find one located in a converted 1800's

chapel and one in a hundred year old drug store. The area also has several English-style Tea Houses

and a Victorian Bridal Museum.

In the late 1800's two men started the town as a commercial venture. They sold ten acre sites

surrounding a forty acre town plaza area. Today the plaza features an array of shops from outdoor

restaurants and gift shops to antique cars and restoration hardware.

Much of the credit for saving the area and getting it recognized must go to the Old Towne

Preservation Association and the Orange Community Historical Society.

Throughout the year, many events take place in the Plaza. On Labor Day it plays host to the Street

Fair. The Old Towne Orange Antique Fair comes to town in February. There's an Antique Car Show in

April. If you're not afraid of goblins and ghosts you can trick or treat through the streets at

Halloween. In December the whole town comes together for the Christmas Tree Lighting. For more

information Please Call the City Office of Community and Library Services at (714) 744-7272

Complementing Old Towne Orange

While embracing the old, Orange residents also welcome the new. The Block at Orange, is an outside

shopping mall designed in the style of the well-known European blocks. Orange also features the

Stadium Promenade, another outside shopping and eating venue, and The Mall of Orange. Orange is

easy to get to from five major freeways, as well as two railroads.

The city of Orange is only 3.5 mles from Disneyland and the Orange County/Anaheim Convention Center.

Just across the city line are Edison Field and the Anaheim Pond. Knott's Berry Farm is only ten

miles away and you can go right down the 55 Freeway and be at the beach in less than half an hours

drive.

The History of Orange

It has taken just over a century for the town of Orange to mature from a farm town with dirt roads

and a tiny fenced off town square surrounded by farms and orange groves to a city with a popualation

exceeding 130,000. Unlike most of the other cities in Orange County the city of Orange has

preserved the past while supporting growth and development.

The heart of the city is Old Towne Orange. This downtown area has maintained many of the old

buildings and the flavor of the small town it started off as. There is a diversity of population,

shopping, and industry. Orange is a national landmark as well as an influential hub of the county.

There are five major medical centers and several institutes of higher learning. Old Towne Orange is

a major focus of the antique world, with over seven hundred businesses devoted to everything from

old locks to a working soda fountain drug store.

The Early Days 

The original Native American inhabitants of the area now known as Orange, were called Gabrielios by

the invading Spaniards. The Gabrielios used the land as a resource. They survived on what the land

provided them, they did not own the land, they lived with the land.

The concept of land ownership was introduced by the Spaniards. The first recorded landholder was a

retired Spanish Soldier Juan Pablo Grijalva. Juan Pablo Grijalva had provided protection for one of

the early Spanish expeditions from Mexico. On his march through California he had decided it would

be a good place to settle down and start a ranch. The Spanish colonial government granted Juan

Pablo Grijalva permission to Arroyo de Santiago, a ranch which ran from the foothills above Villa

Park all the way to the ocean. Grijalva took control of the land and built an adobe ranch house at

what is now Hoyt Hill near the intersection of Hewes & Santiago Canyon Rd.

Upon Juan Pablo's passing the ranch came to be called Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. Control of the

rancho was passed on to Jose Antonio Yorba and Juan Pablo Peralta, Grijalva's son-in-law and

grandson respectively. As the rancho grew, so did the family. Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana

eventually covered an area which started in Riverside and ran all the way to the Pacific in Newport

Beach. Peralta and Yorba each fathered nine children and the family which evolved from these

children spread all over the rancho taking possession of different portions.

The United States took possession of California as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in

1848. As a result of this treaty many people lost large parcels of land. As a part of the

possession the United States required that landholders had to be able to show that they were

entitled to all the land they possesed. They had to have paperwork in order to show proof.

Grijalva's descendants were able to validate the claim to their land in 1857, only to have a problem

crop up at a later date.

While the Peralta and Yorba families continued too grow and extend their holdings one of the people

brought into the family through marriage was to create a dispute over the holdings. Leonardo Cota

borrowed money from Abel Stearns in the early 1860's. Stearns who was already Southern California's

largest land owner was looking to add more. Stearns filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior

Court when Cota defaulted on the loan. Since Cota used his share of the rancho as collateral for

the loan from Stearns, Stearns demanded that the rancho be partitioned so as to allow stearns to

take Cota's portion.

Two of the los Angeles lawyers who handled the case were Alfred Beck Chapman and Andrew Glassell.

The case ground through the red tape for two years. With the large number of heirs involved it was

finally decided that the property would be divided into 1,000 units. The rancho was then divided up

among the Peralta and Yorba descendants and the claimants. At the end of the case Glassell and

Chapman were awarded land in leiu of cash. With the land awarded combined with land they had

already purchased Glassell and Chapman accumulated over five thousand acres of land in what is now

downtown Orange. The two attorneys had started buying land in the early 1860's and by 1870 they had

5,400 acres and felt that they had the foundation for a new town.

Chapman hired a surveyor and divided the land into individual lots. The lots were 40, 80 and 120

acre parcels. The area was called Richland and a stage road and water, from the Santa Ana River,

were both nearby. The soil was rich and Captain Glassell supervised the building of the AB Chapman

Canal from the river, for irrigation. Today, part of the canal's path may be traced along Canal

Street, behind the Mall of Orange.

The two attorneys set everything in motion, but it was Glassell's brother, Captain William T.

Glassell, who was responsible for the day to day supervision. The first building in Richland was

Captain Glassell's house. The Captain's home and office were built on the west side of the Plaza

Square.

By the end of 1871, there were a dozen houses in and around Richland. The next year a schoolhouse

was built at Sycamore and Lemon followed a year later by the first store, the first civic

organization and the first church. The first store was Fisher Brothers, the first church was the

Methodist Episcopal and the first organization was the Orange Grange. In that same year the

application for a Richland post office was refused because there was already a Richland in

Sacramento County. The Orange Post Office was established in September of 1873.

There are several versions of how the name of Orange was later chosen. One thing in common with all

the stories is that when it came time for the town to get a post office the postal service said

Richland could not be used. Some people say the name was decided by a game of chance and others say

it came from Orange County, Virginia. Glassell was from Orange County Virginia, which was named for

the son-in-law of King George II. In 1880 there were Orange Counties in six other states. There

could possibly be a connection to probable crops, such as lemon, almond, olive and orange trees,

these being the four streets surrounding the center of town. The prevalent reason given for the town

name of Orange is that it was chosen by the local residents.

By any account Orange was a farming community. Early on, wheat, barley, oats and other grain crops

were tried along with tropical fruits and grapes. The most successful of these were the grape

vines. They were primarily used for raisins and were a major crop until the blight of 1886.

Thousands of vines were lost all over Southern California. Orange trees had been planted in 1873

and after the blight of '86 they became more of a predominant crop. On March 11, 1889, Orange

County was seperated from Los Angeles County and was named Orange County because of the predominance

of the orange industry at that time. "This county was given its name by the Legislature because of

the orange groves for which it is justly famous" (Blue Book 1907, pg. 278). Orange County also

adopted a seal with an orange with three leaves attached to the stem.

The Boom Time and Incorporation

The 1880's were a boom time in Orange. The town sent out flyers across the United States promoting

the wonderful climate and other virtues of the city of Orange and Orange County. The Southern

Pacific Railroad built a depot in Orange in 1880 which sparked a boom time and in 1887 the Santa Fe

Railroad built a competing line. There was a price war between the two. Visitors came from all

over the United States. They were beckoned by flyers and cheap tickets to visit, provided by land brokers, but many of them

bought land and stayed. New subdivisions and townsites were offered for sale. The Orange Tribune

and the Orange News competed to be the voice of the area. The first public library was opened in

1885, The Bank of Orange, 1886 and the same year a circular park with a fountain was built in the

Plaza Square. Along with all the visitors came the need for rooms and transportation. Three hotels

were built as well as two street car lines and asphalt sidewalks and gas street lights were a

welcome addition to downtown Orange.

In 1888, the year before the southern half of Los Angeles County became Orange County, the city of

Orange was incorporated. Orange was 3.1 Square miles of land, bordered by Batavia St, La Veta Ave,

Santiago Creek and Collins Ave. William Blasdale, who was the cities first mayor, lobbied for

the City of Orange to be the county seat. Orange was in the running with Santa Ana and Anaheim, but the final

choice was Santa Ana.

The End of the Century and the Crash

The last decade of the 19th Century ushered in the end of the boom. The local farmers planted

orange trees all over orange, but they had to rely on other crops until the orange trees matured.

Once the orange tree matured, the area became much more reliant on the income from oranges. Things

went well for about twenty years, then came "The Freeze" in 1913 which was followed three years later

by floods. The 1920's saw the recovery of the orange industry, by the end of the decade oranges were

the premier crop of the city of Orange. In 1929 more than 12 million dollars worth of oranges were

being produced in Orange County. Just one packing plant in Orange was putting out almost a million

boxes of fruit per year.

The orange industry was rocked, as was the entire country, when the "Great Depression" brought down

the price of oranges and just about everything else. The decline carried on until the beginning of WWII

and in Orange County was compounded by the weather. The freeze flood syndrome struck again in the

late thrities. 1937 had a devastating freeze in 1937 followed, as was the previous freeze, by

flooding. The span between the freeze and the flood this time was only one year. The flood was

much worse for the County of Orange than the City of Orange. Nineteen people died in Orange County

during the flood. The City of Orange sustained considerable damage from the flood of '38, but no

fatalities. Roads and farmland both took big hits. This was the worst flood in Orange County

history.

In the early twentieth century, a large Mexican population settled in Orange. The mexican

population centered in and around El Modena. The major influx began around 1910. In conjunction

with the growth of the orange industry there was a need for more cheap labor. The community of El

Modena consisted mainly of shacks. These small houses rented out for $7 to $10 a month. Despite

their poor construction, most of these small villages remained until after World War II. Just like

almost everywhere else in the United States there was great need for more housing after the war. The

small shack villages were eventually replaced by modest housing subdivisions still existing today.

The growth of El Modena's population meant a growth in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was

a strong influence among the Mexican settlers in Orange. The main spirit of the Catholic Churh in

Orange was La Purisima Catholic Church. La Purisma Catholic Church is still an important force in

the El Modena community today. La Purisma dates back to the mid-1920s, at which time segregation and

prejudice were part of life in the barrios. Mexicans were only allowed to use the balconies of

movie theaters. The Plunge only allowed Mexicans to swim there on Mondays, because the pool was

cleaned on Tuesdays. The schools were also segregated and remained that way until the 1940's, when

the courts forced integration.

During this time El Modena formed its own school district. El Modena later joined with several other

small districts to increase their ability to function. This group eventually became known as the

Orange Unified School District. The first high school in Orange, Orange High School, was built in 1905 and

is now Wilkinson Hall at Chapman University.

In 1928 the area now known as Orange Park Acres was subdivided into 5 to 10 acre lots. This area

remained primarily farmland, with the main crop being oranges, until the 1970's. During the '70's

the large lots became large estates. The large lots had room for horses and an equestrian society

slowly eveolved into the Orange Park Acres we know today.

The Next Boom in the Boom Bust Cycle

The entire Pacific Coast was considered of crucial importance during World War II. Cars being

driven up and down Pacific Coast Highway had to have their lights narrowed to tiny slits so that

they would not be beacons for submarines off our coast. Cities such as Orange had to deal with

blackouts. El Modena and Orange High Schools were not exempt. Camoflage covered the buildings and the

"O" for Orange High School had to be covered.

During World War II Southern California was the staging ground for many thousands of soldiers from

all over the United States. The war was the beginning of the biggest boom for Orange in all the

boom bust cycles. Many of the men stationed in Orange were trained in the Borrego Desert. The

Borrego was an ideal training area for the armed services. While in Orange the servicemen were sent

out to the desert in groups. Large numbers spent their time becoming acclimated to the Southern

California climate. After the war, thousands of these men came back to live, many with families.

The city of Orange grew from 3.8 square miles and just over 10,000 people, to 8.3 square miles and

over 26,000 people in 1960. In eight short years the population of Orange grew more than it had in

the previous 100 years.

A former mayor of Orange, George Weimer, came back to lead the city as City Manager in 1953. Weimer

was in favor of responsible growth. He saw to it that as the population grew, so did the commercial

and industrial segments. He encouraged this growth to provide both jobs for residents and a solid

tax base for the city to work with.

With the influx of people, Orange grew to 120,000, came the need for more services, banks, grocery

stores, and shopping centers. The city added services too, a new main library in 1961 and the city

moved into a new Civic Center in 1963. In 1969 the fire department opened a new headquarters. Part

of this growth was spured by annexation. Orange grew to be over 25 square miles. Orange has two

colleges, Chapman University, which is the oldest university in Orange County and Santiago Canyon

College, which is one of the newer ones.

The Mall of Orange and The City Shopping Center were built in the 1970's. The area along Tustin St

grew commercially. People from all over Orange County came to shop in Orange. Competition heated

up as the cities around Orange grew commercially. When Santa Ana created MainPlace Mall it was the

death nell for The City Shopping Center and major changes were in store for the Orange Mall as well,

to compete with the newer malls. In 1995 The City Shopping Center closed it's doors and reopened

three years later under a totally different formula, as The Block at Orange.

Downtown Orange is one of the areas which has undergone major growth, but has also maintained it's

old town roots. Orange calls itself "a major city with a small town ambiance", and nowhere is this

expressed more than Old Towne Orange. Not only are the buildings from another time, but so is the

small town attitude. Old Towne Orange has more antique stores concentrated in one place than almost

any other area of California. There are art galleries, museums and even an old time soda fountain drug

store combination. Old Towne Orange draws visitors from all over to the downtown area of Orange.

Old Towne gained historical recognition in the 1970s. In 1986, the Old Towne Preservation

Association was founded to preserve the integrity of the area's historic structures. The mile-square

area was signed onto the National Historic Register on July

Watson's Drug Store Timeline