City of Santa Ana history

Santa Ana's history began in 1869 when William H. Spurgeon purchased 70 acres from the Yorba heirs and drew up a town plan.

The community developed as a centre for the farm produce of the Santa Ana valley after the Southern Pacific Railroad connected it (1878) to Los Angeles.

Incorporated in 1886, Santa Ana has established itself as Orange County’s government powerbase and is colloquially known as Downtown Orange County.

Santa Ana, city, seat (1889) of Orange county, southern California, United States It lies at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains, on the Santa Ana River.

More than 4,000 square miles (10,500 square km) of the desert lie below sea level, including the 300-square-mile (800-square-km) Salton Sea, a lake with no outlet that was created in 1905–07 when the nearby Colorado River broke out of its channel.

In the east-central region is the Trans-Sierra desert, which extends along the sheer east escarpment of the Sierra Nevada range and comprises part of the vast interstate Great Basin of the Basin and Range Province. Its largest towns are in the Owens Valley, which was a fertile farmland until its groundwater flow was diverted to Los Angeles through a mammoth series of conduits built in 1908–13.

The park's historic mausoleum was built in 1916 of European marble and granite, with handcrafted stained-glass windows.

A city charter, providing for a council-manager form of government, was adopted in 1952.

The California State Water Project, launched in 1960, is the largest water-transfer system ever undertaken.

United States rank in 1980: 69th

Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the 21-block area is among the largest such districts in the state of California.

The center was awarded the largest grant ($867,000) given by the State of California for such programs in 2000.

Births (2002, Orange County)

The following is a summary of data regarding the Santa Ana-Irvine-Anaheim metropolitan area nonagricultural labor force, 2004 annual averages.

The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD), the largest in Orange County and fifth (2005) largest in the state, is administered by a five-member, nonpartisan board of education that appoints a superintendent.