Local city information for Santa Ana, CA

Founded in 1869, Santa Ana () is the most populous city in Orange County, California, USA and is the county seat, with an estimated 355,662 people. Santa Ana is located in Southern California on the Santa Ana River, ten miles (16 km) away from the California coast. Santa Ana is part of the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana metropolitan area which, according to the United States Census Bureau, is the second largest metropolitan area in the United States, with almost thirteen million people. Among U.S. cities with more than 300,000 people, Santa Ana is the 4th-most densely populated.

Santa Ana lends its name to the Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5), which runs through the city. It also shares its name with the nearby Santa Ana Mountains and the infamous Santa Ana Winds, which historically have fueled seasonal wildfires throughout Southern California. The current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) metropolitan designation for Santa Ana and the Orange County Area is "Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA".


Members of the Tongva and Juaneño/Luiseño nations long inhabited the area. After the 1769 expedition of Gaspar de Portolá out of Mexico City, then capitol of New Spain, Friar Junípero Serra named the area Vallejo de Santa Ana (Valley of Saint Anne, or Santa Ana Valley). On November 1, 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano was established within this valley. This Santa Ana Valley comprised most of what is now called Orange County.

In 1810, year of the commencement of the war of Mexican Independence (1810–1821), Jose Antonio Yorba, a sergeant of the Spanish army, was granted land that he called Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. Yorba's rancho included the lands where the cities of Olive, Orange, Irvine,Yorba Linda, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and unincorporated El Modena, and Santa Ana Heights, are today. This rancho was the only land grant in Orange County granted under Spanish Rule. Surrounding land grants in Orange County were granted after Mexican Independence by the new government.

After the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Alta California became part of the United States and American settlers arrived in this area.

Claimed in 1869 by Kentuckian William H. Spurgeon on land obtained from the descendents of Jose Antonio Yorba, Santa Ana was incorporated as a city in 1886 with a population of 2000 and in 1889 became the seat of the newly formed Orange County.

By 1906 the Pacific Electric Railway from Los Angeles was extended to Santa Ana, running along Fourth Street downtown. The "red cars" made travel to Los Angeles easier and helped continue Santa Ana's population boom. Due to declining ridership, the route was abandoned by the 1950s and the tracks were removed along with much of the rest of the Pacific Electric system. The closing coincided with the opening of the Santa Ana Freeway in 1953, increasing the ease of travel by automobile.

Santa Ana was the home of the original Glenn L. Martin aviation company, founded in 1912 before merging with the Wright Company in 1916. Later, Glenn Luther Martin created a second company of the same name in Cleveland, Ohio which eventually merged with the Lockheed Corporation to form the largest defense contractor in the world, Lockheed Martin.

During World War II, the Santa Ana Army Air Base was built as a training center for the United States Army Air Forces. The base was responsible for continued population growth in Santa Ana and the rest of Orange County as many veterans moved to the area to raise families after the end of the war.

In 1987, MainPlace Mall (now Westfield MainPlace) was opened north of downtown and became a major retail center for the area.

In November 1988, Santa Ana became a charter city, which allowed citizens to directly vote in mayoral elections. The current mayor of Santa Ana is Miguel A. Pulido, the first of Latino descent in the city's history.

Since the 1980s, Santa Ana has been characterized by an effort to revitalize the downtown area which had declined in influence. The Santa Ana Artist's Village was created around Cal State Fullerton's Grand Central Art Center to attract artists and young professionals to live-work lofts and new businesses. The process has continued into 2009 with the reopening of the historic Yost Theater.

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