Newport Beach History
When Capitain Samuel S. Dunnells successfully steered his 105-ton river steamer Vaquero through upper Newport Bay in 1870, James and Robert McFadden rushed from Northern California by stagecoach to mark the inaugural voyage. ...read more here
Irvine History
Irvine is the country's largest and best-known planned community. Now a city of over 150,000 people, its housing "villages" and business developments were sculpted from portions of the huge Irvine Ranch, purchased by James Irvine in 1864. Cattle and sheep once grazed the flat valley, but James Irvine began switching from ranching to farming in the late 1800s. ...read more here
Orange County History
The colorful pageantry of human history in Orange County began at some undetermined point in the distant past when Shoshone Indians came to dwell along the coast and in the lower canyons of the mountains. Theirs was a simple form of existence: they lived off of the abundance of the land. ...read more here