Long before the county became synonymous with beaches, shopping,

and Disneyland, the area was home to Native Americans. In 1769,

Gaspar de Portola was appointed governor of Lower California.

Portola called upon Father Junipero Serra to assist in securing the

Spanish claim to the vast frontier against any invasion from Russian

trappers or British colonizers.

In July of 1769, European explorers reached the boundaries of

present-day Orange County, naming the region "The Valley of Saint

Anne" (Santa Ana). Father Serra dedicated the Mission of San

Juan Capistrano, Orange County's fi rst permanent settlement, on

November 1, 1776.

In 1801, Jose Antonio Yorba, a volunteer in the Portola expedition,

returned to Santa Ana. He established the county's fi rst rancho

(Santiago de Santa Ana) in what today are the cities of Villa Park,

Orange, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana. Later the extensive land

holdings of the Capistrano Mission were subdivided and awarded

to a number of distinguished war heroes, ushering in the romantic

rancho era of Orange County.

Irish-born James Irvine established in 1876 sole ownership of a

110,000-acre sheep ranch that is today one of the most valuable

pieces of real estate in America. In 1887, silver was discovered in the

Santa Ana Mountains. Land speculators and farmers came by rail

from the East to settle in such boomtowns as Buena Park, Fullerton

and El Toro.

Orange County was formally organized as a political entity separate

from the County of Los Angeles in 1889. A year-round harvest of

Valencia oranges, lemons, avocados, lima beans and walnuts made

agriculture the single most important industry in the fl edgling

county. As orange groves began to proliferate throughout the area,

the new county was named for the fruit, becoming Orange County.

The twentieth century brought with it many industrious individuals

such as Walter Knott, a farmer turned entrepreneur, who founded the

Knott legacy in Buena Park. During the years that followed, Orange

County witnessed the discovery of oil in Huntington Beach, the birth

of the aerospace industry on the Irvine Ranch, and fi lming of several

Hollywood classics in the Newport area. In 1955, Walt Disney opened

his Magic Kingdom in Anaheim.

Today, Orange County is the home of more than three million

diverse residents and a vast number of housing developments,

shopping centers, major companies, small businesses, service