A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH COUNTY

1776 Mission San Juan Capistrano is established by Father Junipero Serra.

1835 Richard Henry Dana Jr. sails into the port of what is today Dana Point. He refers to it as “the only romantic spot in California” in his book “Two Years Before the Mast.”

1864 James Irvine and several partners purchase the Ranchos Lomas de Santiago and San Joaquin, as well as a portion of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, and form the Irvine Ranch. Irvine will become sole owner of the property two years later.

1894 James Irvine incorporates his 108,000-acre ranch property as the Irvine Co., and the land begins a transformation from grazing to farming.

1906 The Balboa Pavilion opens.

1926 Coast Highway reaches Laguna Beach.

1929 San Clemente is founded by Ole Hanson, who wants to build a “Spanish Village by the Sea.”

1932 Laguna Beach holds its first Festival of the Arts.

1936 Newport Harbor is dedicated.

1943 The El Toro Marine Corps Air Station opens on 4,000 acres of Irvine Ranch land.

1960 With the completion of a 5.8-mile stretch of Interstate 5 between San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, the southern tip of Orange County is linked to the north by modern highway. The stretch will become the major travel artery between Los Angeles and San Diego.

1963 The Mission Viejo Co. buys 10,000 acres of Rancho Mission Viejo from the O’Neill family for residential, recreational and retail development.

1964 The UC Irvine campus is dedicated.

Laguna Hills Leisure World opens.

1965 Houses go on sale in University Park in Irvine, the first master-planned community in the county and the first of many in Irvine.

1971 Dana Point Harbor is dedicated.

1988 The Orange County Board of Supervisors approves the Irvine Coast plan after more than two decades of wrangling. The plan for the 2.5-mile stretch of county land along Coast Highway between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach will leave 76% of the site’s nearly 10,000 acres untouched.