The Histroy Of Orange, CA

Orange is located in the Orange County in the state of California, United States of America. The city is unusual when compared to others in that region. This is the only city you can see old homes within the town district. These homes were developed before the year 1920. Such homes within the region were demolished in the 60s. Last census exercise returned a population of 139,812 people as the city residents.

The Tongval, Luiseno and the Juaneno ethnic groups, originally inhabited the city. They occupied the area before the Europeans arrived. These ethnic groups set up settlements and villages where they cultivated food. They were sustained in that area because of the availability of water. The camp these Native Americans lived survived up to the year 1870.

The first Europeans these Native Americans came to contact with were the European missionaries led by Father Junipero Serra. They were helped by Gaspa de Portola to develop the area.

The mission road where the early European missionaries stayed is very close to the place the Plaza is located today. European missionaries preserved the Olive area as their settlement, but the Native Americans vehemently resisted this. This led to the development of Suan Capistrano Mission where the missionaries later settled. This mission settlement area was created in the year 1776.

The whole of California was under the Spanish control, and by the Spanish law, the king has authority and control over the land. In the year 1801, Spanish king granted Jose Antonio Yorba 62,500 acres of land. Antonio named the place Rancho San Antonio. In this ranch is where Orange, and Olive cities are located today, in addition to Santa Ana, Villa Park, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa as well as Tustin. Minor ranchos were created from this large rancho, and the smaller rancho created out of it includes the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana.

The first individual land owner in the area was Don Juan Pablo Grijalva. He was a retired Spanish soldier. Spanish king granted him permission to establish and own a ranch. At the end of Mexican Spanish war, Mexico took California away from Spanish control. Mexican government restricted mission activities to religious duties. The government equally made land grants of about forty four thousand acres. The land was granted to Mexicans. They were mandated to improve the land. By the year 1846, most of the lands in the Orange city were under one ranch or the other. Many residents take to cattle ranching. Vessel trading between the Californians and the United States, as well as other countries was encouraged. Traders from other parts of the world sail down to the coast to buy cattle hides and bring in manufactured goods.

When the American and Mexican war ended in the year 1848, California was ceded to the United States by the Mexican government. There was a gold rush to California and that brought many settlers to California. This was a blessing to the cattle ranchers because it brought a market for them.

Beef meat was sold to the new settlers and this boosted the local economy. The growing ranching economy could not be maintained because of series of natural mishaps such as diseases and drought. Moreover, the ownership of the land was challenged in American courts, and these owners were not able to pay the expensive costs of defending them. They were forced to sell the land to new American owners.

Since 1864, many Americans started acquiring and developing the lands, they acquired. This also led to the development of towns. In developing the town sites, water was the major consideration. Most of the landowners wanted to use the land for farm purposes, and they want a place they could easily irrigate. Another factor that influenced the choice of land is the land quality, which has to do with fertility of the land.

This led to the development of the community. As the community grows, Richland was the name given to it. The name was later changed from Richland to Orange when Washington refused their application for a post office.

Orange town was incorporated in the year 1888, April 6. It was incorporated under the laws of California. The town was built in the plaza and it remained the only town in the whole of Orange County to be constructed around the plaza. Because of this, the name Plaza City was given to it.

The town grew tremendously like other cities within California around the period 19th century. High demand of California made Citrus fruits made this possible. This was a period referred to as Orange Era. There was a real estate boom within the period. This made many people to surge to the area. It was followed by rail and road development. Agricultural products could be easily evacuated. The economy continued to thrive on agriculture until 1950s when real estate boomed in the area for the second time. Real estate boom spurred development and various cities within California were linked. A large outlying urban area was created. More houses were built to accommodate more people. The process continued until the city grew to what it is today.We hope you enjoy Orange, CA