FULLERTON : City Will Celebrate Founder’s Day Today

The city celebrates Founder’s Day today with activities that will include tours of Police and Fire Department headquarters, a parade with marching bands and a street fair with carnival rides.

The parade, with more than 100 entries, will begin at 10 a.m. and wind its way along Harbor Boulevard from Berkeley Avenue south to Commonwealth Avenue.

At the street fair on Pomona Avenue between Chapman and Commonwealth avenues, there will be food and craft booths, a beer garden for adults and carnival rides.

Police will display their dogs and demonstrate firearms in the department’s shooting range. They will also provide tours of the headquarters’ 1939 murals, which celebrate the growth of Southern California. The department, at 237 W. Commonwealth Ave., was formerly the City Hall.

The Fire Department will show off Jesse, its arson-detecting dog, and a helicopter used in rescue operations.

Fullerton was founded in 1887 by George and Edward Amerige, grain merchants from Malden, Mass. The two brothers were on a trip hunting ducks in Anaheim and heard of plans to build a railroad in Orange County, according to a city historian.

The brothers bought 430 acres of what is now downtown Fullerton. They offered a share of their venture to George H. Fullerton, a land agent, in return for routing the railroad through the city, which Fullerton did.