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Set in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, Rancho Santa Margarita is a vibrant city with the unique quality of an urban village. Although incorporated on January 1, 2000, making it one of California's youngest cities, it has a rich and intriguing history that dates back to the origins of the Golden State. During the late 1800s, the original ranch covered 230,000 acres, making it one of the largest in the Southwest. With many never-before-seen images, this book captures the essence of this fascinating story of the city, including the Spanish expedition in the 1700s, the Mexican governance of the land, the ownership of the area by the O'Neill family, the ranch activities of the 1960s, and the building of city landmarks in the 1980s, including the development of the most scenic lake in Orange County.
Santa Margarita de Cortona was founded in 1775 as part of the original Spanish mission system. Its asistencia, in fact, has been considered a lost mission. Santa Margarita Ranch was later founded from a Mexican land grant. In 1889, the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, with its terminus in Santa Margarita, created a boomtown with dance halls, blacksmiths, hotels, pool halls, saloons, and a jail. And with the popularity of auto travel half a century later, Santa Margarita was once again revitalized with garages, gas stations, motor inns, restaurants, and bars. It fell into a deep sleep, however, as Highway 101 bypassed the town in the mid-1950s. Landlocked by the 17,000-plus-acre Santa Margarita Ranch, the town has remained frozen in time until recently.
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