Santa Ana, California

About Santa Ana, California

Founded in 1869, Santa Ana (pronounced /ˌsæntə ˈænə/) is the most populous city in Orange County, California and is the county seat and a city of over 340,000 people. Santa Ana is located in Southern California on the Santa Ana River, ten miles away from the California coast. Santa Ana is part of the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana metropolitan area which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is the second largest metropolitan area in the United States with almost thirteen million people. The Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5) runs through the city, and the Costa Mesa Freeway (55 Freeway) and Garden Grove Freeway (22 Freeway) travel along its edges. Santa Ana is home to two Fortune 500 companies, including Ingram Micro, and First American Corp. Santa Ana is also home to the famous guitar manufacturer, Rickenbacker International Corporation. The current 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, an expedition that came 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 ranch 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.