Juan Pacifico Ontiveros acquired a Mexican land grant for what would become modern day Anaheim. It wouldn’t be for another two decades until the land was purchased by proxy for the Los Angeles Vineyard Society to cultivate grapes on. This new viticulture colony was named by combining “Ana” from the nearby Santa Ana river and “heim” being German for home. The initial settlement was roughly 1,200 acres and would be bound by today’s North, South, East, and West Streets. Our modern day downtown is located on that original plot and from there, the rest of the city’s historic neighborhoods and other development would spread.

During this growing phase back in the mid-late 1800s, Anaheim established its first school, church, brewery, and more! The first mayor, Maximilian Strobel, was elected in 1870. It was an age of firsts and all while the area’s wine industry was proving extremely fruitful with production surpassing one million gallons a year until 1884, when disaster struck. A plague swept through the vineyards and decimated the crop. After this blow, the residents proved resilient, replanted but this time with a variety of new crops including sugar beets, lemons, Anaheim chili peppers, walnuts, and most notably…citrus groves.

The important role Anaheim’s citrus groves played continued into the 1900s and is perhaps best highlighted by the creation of the “California Valencia Orange Show!” The inaugural event held in 1921, which featured a long-distance telephone address by President Warren G. Harding, was designed to, “spread the fame, beauty and richness of the Valencia Orange”. The “Valencia Orange Show” was held for ten years and would have four main exhibits: Citrus, Automotive, Industrial, and the Amusement Zone until being combined in 1931 with the Orange County Fair.

During the lifespan of the “Orange Show”, another Anaheim tradition was born in 1924. The first Halloween Parade was staged in downtown Anaheim and none other than Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson served as the grand marshals! Some referred to the event as the “Greatest Night Pageant West of Mardi Gras” and can be enjoyed annually to this day.

The Halloween Parade’s longevity is a testament to the city’s continued growth. In 1954, the City of Anaheim was just over 4 square miles. By the 70s, it had swelled to an impressive 42 square miles. Over those twenty years Anaheim celebrated its centennial, Walt Disney opened the gates to Disneyland in 1955, and the first pitch was thrown in 1966 at the newly built Angels Stadium. Since then, it’s been a never-ending list of notable firsts our city has borne witness to leading up to 1997.

In 1997, the Anaheim City Council designated its first historic district. The Anaheim Colony Historic District was recognized as an area having significant historic, architectural, cultural, and aesthetic value to the city. The area roughly reflects the initial Anaheim colony settlement. In the coming years our other three historic districts would be designated: the Five Points Historic District in 2004, the Historic Palm District in 2006, and the Hoskins Historic District in 2008.

Inside these four historic districts are neighborhoods recognized by the National Register of Historic Places Collection. Two located inside the Colony are the Melrose-Backs Neighborhood (located north of Lincoln, east of Anaheim Blvd, just above George Washington Park) and the Kroeger-Melrose Historic District (roughly bounded by Lincoln Ave., S. Kroger, W. Broadway and S. Philadelphia).