1. Before Santa Ana became an actual city in 1869, it was a mustard field sitting in the middle of nowhere.
2. In January of 1969 locals were concerned about the erosion to their homes caused by heavy rains flooding the Santiago Creek. To solve this, El Toro marines lowered frames of old cars from helicopters at the sound bend to prevent the waters from corroding the homes.
3. Many immigrants live in the city of Santa Ana and the term “clown house,” which refers to multiple families living in one home, was coined as a result. That one’s only mildly offensive, right?
4. Santa Ana has one of the highest household occupancy rates of all American cities with populations over 100,000. Okay, maybe the clown house thing is kind of accurate.
5. Wells Fargo opened their first office in Santa Ana in the year 1874.
6. Santa Ana was founded by William H. Spurgeon. While riding through on horseback, Spurgeon paused to climb a sycamore tree and have a look around. He liked the mustard fields so much that he decided to plow them down and build a 24-block village. He paid $595 for 74.2 acres.
7. Spurgeon built a stone courthouse with a tower on an entire city block that rose higher than any building in town. It still stands today.
8. Not only did Spurgeon found and build the town, but he served as the local postmaster, too. He kept the mail in a wooden shoebox. Is there anything this guy didn’t do?
9. One of the first orange orchards in the city and county is the historic Sexlinger Orchard.
10. The first party of European explorers reached the boundaries of Orange County in July of 1769. They named the area “The Valley of Saint Anne,” or Santa Ana. It was this close to being the actual name of the county, before it was changed to Orange County in 1889 because of–why else?–the vast amount of oranges in the area (150,000 orange trees, to be exact).
11. The strong, dry Santa Ana winds can be to blame for a lot of forest fires in the area. They weren’t actually named after the city of Santa Ana, though. Sorry.
12. The MainPlace shopping center downtown was designed to restore the city’s image back in the 1980s after Santa Ana fell into disrepair. The mall has created 2,000 jobs and added considerably to the city's revenue since its conception. So–kind of worked?
13. Nearly 31% of the population of Santa Ana is under 18 years old, which makes it officially one the youngest cities in the nation.
14. After the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the men of Santa Ana came together to organize Company L of the State Guard. They helped organize and implement recovery efforts and even stayed together to serve in the Spanish-American War, both World Wars and the Korean conflict.
15. Because of its large immigrant population, more than 80% of the residents of Santa Ana do not speak English in their homes.
16. Area residents formed Orange County and the city of Santa Ana in 1889 because they were fed up with the quality of services being provided by Los Angeles County. That sentiment remains today, from what I can tell.
17. The city of Santa Ana ranks 4th when it comes to how densely it’s populated.
18. Santa Ana is a Charter City.
19. Santa Ana is home to Rickenbacker, which has made electric and brass guitars for more rock legends than any other company.
20. Somewhat shockingly, Santa Ana has been ranked in the top ten safest cities of its size in the United States several times.
21. Michelle Pfeiffer was from here. Suddenly, her inspiration for her role in “Dangerous Minds” seems so clear.
22. So was Diane Keaton. She attended Santa Ana Community College before blowing up in Hollywood.
23. The 4,900 residents of Santa Ana had to go head-to-head with Anaheim one hundred years ago for the honor of being the seat of government for the newly formed Orange County. We all know who won that fight.
24. Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle was one of Orange County's first woman doctors. She supposedly delivered over 1000 babies during her 38 years of practice. They built a house dedicated to her that still stands today. All of the female doctors out there owe her a debt of gratitude for paving the way, methinks.
25. The Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park has been a hotspot for local families since 1952, and provides wonderful educational resources for kids. Plus, they have a merry-go-round.
26. The first schoolroom in Santa Ana was located in a private home at Fifth and Main back in 1870, and was taught by Annie Cozad. Central School, as it was known, sat on the site of the present YMCA.
27. During a Fourth of July celebration in 1900, viewers were forced to watch in horror as a balloonist’s parachute failed to open and nothing could be done to stop him from falling to his death.
28. On May 28, 1906 rumors of leprosy spreading throughout Chinatown ran rampant. Citizens gathered to set a municipal fire and burn it down to stop the spread.
29. Think it never snows in Santa Ana? Think again. On the morning of January 11, 1949 it snowed heavily and blanketed the ground enough for children to build snowmen and ride makeshift sleds.
What's your favorite Santa Ana fun fact? Tell us in the comments below!
