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! === 20th century === [[File:Old Mission orange crate label.jpg|thumb|Advertisement for the [[Valencia orange]], which became the major industrial crop by the 1920s|left]] Other citrus crops, [[avocado]]s, and [[Petroleum|oil]] extraction were also important to the early economy. Orange County benefited from the July 4, 1904, completion of the [[Pacific Electric Railway]], a [[Tram|trolley]] connecting [[Los Angeles]] with Santa Ana and [[Newport Beach]]. The link made Orange County an accessible weekend retreat for celebrities of early [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. It was deemed so significant that Pacific City changed its name to [[Huntington Beach]] in honor of [[Henry E. Huntington]], president of the Pacific Electric and nephew of [[Collis Huntington]]. Transportation further improved with the completion of the State Route and [[U.S. Route 101 in California|U.S. Route 101]] (now mostly [[Interstate 5 in California|Interstate 5]]) in the 1920s. [[File:Orange County map 1921.jpg|thumb|200px|Orange County map, 1921]] In the 1910s, agriculture in Orange County was largely centered on grains, hay, and potatoes by small farmers, accounting for 60% of the county's exports. The [[Henry Segerstrom|Segerstrom]]s and Irvines once produced so many [[lima bean]]s that the county was called "Beanville".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Parsons |first1=Dana |date=14 May 1988 |title=The Lima Legacy: Compared to Past Plenty, Today's Few Fields Yield Hardly a Hill of Beans |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-14-li-2852-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles |access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref> By 1920, fruit and nut exports exploded, which led to the increase of industrialized farming and the decline of family farms. For example, by 1917, William Chapman came to own 350,000 acres in northeastern Orange County from the [[Valencia orange]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haas |first=Lisbeth |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45732484 |title=Conquests and historical identities in California, 1769-1936 |date=1996 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-91844-3 |edition=[Pbk. ed., 1996] |location=Berkeley, Calif. |pages=122 |oclc=45732484 |access-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-date=January 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111080251/https://www.worldcat.org/title/45732484 |url-status=live}}</ref> Around the 1910s and 1920s, most of the ''barrios'' of Orange County, such as in Santa Ana, further developed as [[company town]]s of Mexican laborers, who worked in the industrial orange groves.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haas |first=Lisbeth |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45732484 |title=Conquests and historical identities in California, 1769-1936 |date=1996 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-91844-3 |edition=[Pbk. ed., 1996] |location=Berkeley, Calif. |pages=199 |oclc=45732484 |access-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-date=January 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111080251/https://www.worldcat.org/title/45732484 |url-status=live}}</ref> Poor working conditions resulted in the [[Citrus Strike of 1936]], in which more than half of the orange industry's workforce, largely Mexican, demanded better working conditions. The strike was heavily repressed, with forced evictions and state-sanctioned violence being used as tactics of suppression.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Citrus War of 1936 Changed Orange County Forever and Cemented Our Mistrust of Mexicans β OC Weekly |url=https://www.ocweekly.com/gunkist-oranges-6421842/ |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=OC Weekly |date=June 8, 2006 |archive-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205023856/https://www.ocweekly.com/gunkist-oranges-6421842/ |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Carey McWilliams (journalist)|Carey McWilliams]] referred to the suppression as "the toughest violation of civil rights in the nation."<ref name=":0" /> The [[Los Angeles flood of 1938]] devastated some areas of Orange County, with most of the effects being in Santa Ana and Anaheim, which were flooded with six feet of water. As an eight-foot-high rush of water further spilled out of the [[Santa Ana Canyon]], forty-three people were killed in the predominately Mexican communities of [[Atwood, Placentia, California|Atwood]] and [[La Jolla, Placentia, California|La Jolla]] in [[Placentia, California|Placentia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-11-29 |title=The Santa Ana River: How It Shaped Orange County |url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/the-santa-ana-river-how-it-shaped-orange-county |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=KCET |language=en |archive-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205203104/https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/the-santa-ana-river-how-it-shaped-orange-county |url-status=live}}</ref> The devastation from this event, as well as from the [[1939 California tropical storm]], meant that Orange County was in need of new infrastructure, which was supported by the [[New Deal]]. This included the construction of numerous schools, city halls, post offices, parks, libraries, and fire stations, as well as the improvement of road infrastructure throughout Orange County.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Epting |first=Charles |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/944515265 |title=The New Deal in Orange County, California |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-62585-036-2 |location=Charleston, SC |pages=9β11 |oclc=944515265}}</ref> [[File:Sylvia Mendez.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Mendez v. Westminster]]'' (1947) overturned racial segregation in California schools. The case was initiated when [[Sylvia Mendez]] (pictured) was turned away from enrolling at a primary school in [[Westminster, California|Westminster]].]] [[School segregation in the United States|School segregation]] between Mexican and white students in Orange County was widespread in the mid-1940s, with 80% of Mexican students attending 14 segregated schools. These schools taught Mexican children manual education β or [[gardening]], [[bootmaking]], [[blacksmithing]], and [[carpentry]] for Mexican boys and sewing and homemaking for girls β while white schools taught academic preparation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gonzalez |first=Gilbert G. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/843881943 |title=Chicano education in the era of segregation |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-57441-516-2 |location=Denton, Texas |pages=178β179 |oclc=843881943 |access-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-date=January 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111080255/https://www.worldcat.org/title/843881943 |url-status=live}}</ref> The landmark case [[Mendez v. Westminster|Mendez vs. Westminster]] (1947) desegregated Orange County schools, after the Mendez family were denied enrollment into the [[17th Street School]] in [[Westminster, California|Westminster]] in 1944, despite their cousins with lighter skin being admitted, and were instead told to enroll at the [[Hoover Elementary School (Santa Ana, California)|Hoover Elementary School]] for Mexican children.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gonzales |first=Leticia |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1336005572 |title=The untold story of Sylvia Mendez : school desegregation pioneer |date=2023 |isbn=978-1-6690-0504-9 |location=North Mankato, Minnesota |pages=4 |oclc=1336005572 |access-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-date=January 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111080300/https://www.worldcat.org/title/1336005572 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1950s, agriculture, such as that involving the [[boysenberries]] made famous by [[Buena Park]] native [[Walter Knott]], began to decline. However, the county's prosperity soared during this time. The completion of [[Interstate 5 in California|Interstate 5]] in 1954 helped make Orange County a [[bedroom community]] for many who moved to [[Southern California]] to work in [[aerospace]] and manufacturing.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2011/03/10/santa-ana-neighborhood-was-african-american-hub/ |title=Santa Ana neighborhood was African American hub |last=Galvin |first=Andrew |date=March 10, 2011 |newspaper=[[Orange County Register]] |language=en-US |access-date=March 14, 2020 |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919031754/https://www.ocregister.com/2011/03/10/santa-ana-neighborhood-was-african-american-hub/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Orange County received a further economic boost in 1955 with the opening of [[Disneyland Park (Anaheim)|Disneyland]]. In 1969, [[Yorba Linda]]-born Orange County native [[Richard Nixon]] became the 37th [[President of the United States]]. He established a "[[Western White House]]" in [[San Clemente, California|San Clemente]], in South Orange County, known as [[La Casa Pacifica]], and visited throughout his presidency.<ref name="casa pacifica">{{cite news|url=https://www.ocregister.com/2010/07/23/western-white-house-opens-to-nixon-love/|title=Western White House Opens to Nixon Love |publisher=The Orange County Register |access-date=August 23, 2023 |date=July 23, 2010}}</ref> In the late 1970s, Vietnamese and Latino immigrants began to populate central Orange County.<ref>{{cite web |last=Do |first=Anh |date=May 24, 2016 |title=In Little Saigon, some Latinos are learning Vietnamese to get ahead |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-viet-latino-20160516-snap-story.html |access-date=February 8, 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |quote=Vietnamese and Latinos, mostly of Mexican descent, began populating the starter tracts of Central Orange County in the late 1970s and early '80sβthe Vietnamese fleeing the Communist government after the war and Latinos looking for better economic opportunities. Vietnamese at first settled largely in Westminster and Latinos in Santa Ana. |archive-date=January 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118223641/https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-viet-latino-20160516-snap-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1980s, Orange County had become the second most populous county in California as the population topped two million for the first time. In the 1990s, [[red fox]]es became common in Orange County as a non-native [[mesopredator]], with increasing urban development pushing out coyote and mountain lion populations to the county's shrinking natural areas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cano |first=Debra |date=1993-09-07 |title=FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Well-Fed Red Foxes Like Living at Park |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-07-me-32551-story.html |access-date=2022-12-20 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220203353/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-07-me-32551-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parris |first=Kirsten M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/953859148 |title=Ecology of urban environments |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-119-24115-7 |location=Chichester, West Sussex |format=eBook |oclc=953859148 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell}}</ref> {{anchor|bankruptcy}}In 1994, an investment fund meltdown led to the criminal prosecution of treasurer [[Robert Citron]]. The county lost at least $1.5 billion through high-risk investments in bonds. The loss was blamed on [[derivative (finance)|derivatives]] by some media reports.<ref name="timebankrupt">{{cite magazine |title=Orange County Goes Bust |magazine=Time Magazine |date=December 19, 1994}}</ref> On December 6, 1994, the County of Orange declared [[Chapter 9, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 9]] bankruptcy,<ref name="timebankrupt" /> from which it emerged on June 12, 1996.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/op/op_398op.pdf |title=When Government Fails: The Orange County Bankruptcy A Policy Summary |publisher=Public Policy Institute of California |access-date=September 29, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140617021603/http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/op/OP_398OP.pdf |archive-date=June 17, 2014 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> The Orange County bankruptcy was at the time the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.<ref name="timebankrupt" /> Land use conflicts arose between established areas in the north and less developed areas in the south. These conflicts were over issues such as construction of new toll roads and the repurposing of a decommissioned air base. [[El Toro Marine Corps Air Station]] was designated by a voter measure in 1994 to be developed into an international airport to complement the existing [[John Wayne Airport]]. But subsequent voter initiatives and court actions caused the airport plan to be permanently shelved. It has developed into the [[Orange County Great Park]] and housing.<ref>[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/data/13030/jh/kt7d5nf2jh/files/kt7d5nf2jh.pdf Guide to the Collection on the Development of the El Toro Airport.] Online Archive of California. Retrieved on January 21, 2010.</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. 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