Orange County Apartment Reviews

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Orange County Information

In 1769, Gaspar de Portola, a military man and Spanish aristocrat, was appointed governor of Lower California. He commanded an expedition traveling northward into the literally unmapped and half mythical territory of Alta California. His assignment was to seek out the legendary Bay of Monterey. He was also to secure the Spanish claim to his vast frontier against any invasion from Russian trappers or British colonizers. Portola called upon Father Junipero Serra, president of the Mexico City Missionary College, to assist in this monumental undertaking.

It was late in July in 1769 when this first party of European explorers reached the boundaries of present-day Orange County. Members of the expedition named the region "The Valley of Saint Anne" (Santa Ana). It was to this valley that Father Serra returned six years later, where he proceeded with the work of establishing the Church and converting the local people.

While the East Coast of North America was engaged in revolution and spectacular change, the West Coast too was undergoing a quiet and almost undetected transformation. Father Serra dedicated the Mission of San Juan Capistrano, Orange County's first permanent settlement, on November 1, 1776. The Mission became a self-sustaining unit based upon an agricultural economy. Its chapel and adjoining structure were the first signs of civilization erected upon the fertile, virgin soil of the Santa Ana Region.

In 1801, Jose Antonio Yorba, a volunteer in the Portola expedition, also returned to Santa Ana. He established the county's first rancho (Santiago de Santa Ana) in what are today the cities of Villa Park, Orange, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana.

Following Mexico's liberation from Spanish rule in 1821, the extensive land holdings of the Capistrano Mission were subdivided and awarded to a number of distinguished war heroes. By this time Yorba's Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana had grown to resemble a feudal manor, and the romantic rancho era of Orange County had been ushered in.

Cattle were introduced into the area in 1834. A prosperous hide and tallow industry developed. Southern California became a virtual suburb of New England as sailing ships loaded with cargo traveled back and forth between coasts. In 1835, author-seaman Richard Henry Dana arrived at what is today known as Dana Point. He later immortalized Spanish Orange County in his book "Two Years Before the Mast" by describing it as "the only romantic spot on the Coast." The Spanish California tradition of a carefree lifestyle, fiestas with music and dancing, bear and bull fights, rodeos, and gracious hospitality, survived until the 1860.