Orange County, California Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === 19th century === [[Viticulture]] became an increasingly important crop in [[Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles]] and Orange Counties through the subsequent decades. By the 1850s, the regions supported more than 100 [[vineyard]]s.<ref name="OC Wine Country Booms">{{cite web |date=August 2, 2017 |title=OC Wine Country Booms |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/02/oc-wine-country-booms/ |access-date=February 10, 2021 |website=Orange County Register |language=en-US |archive-date=February 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212213604/https://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/02/oc-wine-country-booms/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1857, [[Anaheim]] was founded by 50 [[German-Americans]] (with lineage extending back to [[Franconia (wine region)|Franconia]]) in search of a suitable grape-growing region.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 5, 2019 |title=1857: Germans Found a City in California (Anaheim) |url=https://history.info/on-this-day/1857-germans-found-a-city-in-california-anaheim/ |access-date=February 10, 2021 |website=History.info |language=en-US |archive-date=February 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213061231/https://history.info/on-this-day/1857-germans-found-a-city-in-california-anaheim/ |url-status=live}}</ref> This group purchased a {{convert|1,165|acre|km2}} parcel from Juan Pacifico Ontiveros's Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana for $2 per acre and later formed the [[Anaheim Vineyard Company]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Holt |first=Raymond M. |date=1946 |title=The Fruits of Viticulture in Orange County |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41168077 |journal=The Quarterly: Historical Society of Southern California |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=7–33 |doi=10.2307/41168077 |jstor=41168077 |issn=2162-9358 |access-date=February 10, 2021 |archive-date=February 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210233744/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41168077 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="OC Wine Country Booms" /> With surveyor [[Gates of Anaheim|George Hansen]], two of the wine colony's founders, John Frohling and Charles Kohler, planted 400,000 [[Vitis vinifera|grapevines]] along the [[Santa Ana River]]; by 1875, "there were as many as 50 [[Winery|wineries]] in Anaheim, and the city's wine production topped 1 million gallons annually."<ref name="OC Wine Country Booms" /> Despite later afflictions of both [[Phylloxera]] and [[Xylella fastidiosa|Pierce's Disease]], wine growing is still practiced.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 25, 2018 |title=Wine Tasting in Orange County |work=Enjoy OC |url=https://enjoyorangecounty.com/wine-tasting-orange-county/ |access-date=February 10, 2021 |language=en-US |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124172516/https://enjoyorangecounty.com/wine-tasting-orange-county/ |url-status=live}}</ref> A severe drought in the 1860s devastated the prevailing industry, [[cattle]] [[ranching]], and much land came into the possession of Richard O'Neill Sr.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ranchomissionviejo.com/blog/the-reserve-at-rancho-mission-viejo-a-rich-history/ |title=The Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo: A Rich History |work=Rancho Mission Viejo |access-date=July 8, 2015 |archive-date=July 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709200108/http://ranchomissionviejo.com/blog/the-reserve-at-rancho-mission-viejo-a-rich-history/ |url-status=live}}</ref> [[James Irvine (landowner)|James Irvine]] and other [[land baron]]s. In 1887, [[silver]] was discovered in the [[Santa Ana Mountains]], attracting settlers via the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe]] and [[Southern Pacific Railroad]]s. High rates of Anglo migration gradually moved Mexicans into ''colonias'', or segregated [[ethnic enclave]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Santillan |first=Richard |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/851387685 |title=Mexican American baseball in Orange County |date=2013 |others=Susan Luévano-Molina, Luis F. Fernández, Angelina F. Veyna |isbn=978-0-7385-9673-0 |location=Charleston, South Carolina |pages=8 |oclc=851387685 |access-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-date=January 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111080254/https://www.worldcat.org/title/851387685 |url-status=live}}</ref> ==== County establishment ==== [[File:Los Angeles County Before OC Secession.svg|thumb|200px|[[Los Angeles County]] before the secession of Orange County in 1889|left]] After several failed attempts in previous sessions, the [[California legislature]] passed a bill authorizing the portion of [[Los Angeles County]] south of [[Coyote Creek (San Gabriel River tributary)|Coyote Creek]] to hold a referendum on whether to remain part of Los Angeles County or to secede and form a new county to be named "Orange" as directed by the legislature. The referendum required a 2/3 vote for secession to take place, and on June 4, 1889, the vote was 2,509 to 500 in favor of secession. After the referendum, Los Angeles County filed three lawsuits to prevent the secession,{{fact|date=December 2023}} but their attempts were futile.{{fact|date=December 2023}} On July 17, 1889, a second referendum was held south of the Coyote Creek to determine if the county seat of the new county would be Anaheim or Santa Ana, along with an election for every county officer. Santa Ana defeated Anaheim in the referendum. With the referendum having passed, the County of Orange was officially incorporated on August 1, 1889.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/how-orange-county-seceded-from-los-angeles |title=How Orange County Seceded from Los Angeles |first=Nathan |last=Masters |date=August 16, 2013 |website=KCET |access-date=December 28, 2018 |archive-date=December 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228131246/https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/how-orange-county-seceded-from-los-angeles |url-status=live}}</ref> Since the incorporation of the county, the only geographical changes made to the boundary was when the County and Los Angeles County traded some parcels of land around Coyote Creek to conform to city blocks.{{when|date=November 2022}} The county is said to have been named for the [[citrus fruit]] in an attempt to promote immigration by suggesting a semi-tropical paradise – a place where anything could grow.<ref>Sleeper, Jim. "How Orange County Got Its Name" (1974). [http://ocgov.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=4286] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106202549/http://www.ocgov.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=4286|date=November 6, 2018}}. Retrieved December 10, 2014.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page