Anaheim California History

Founded by Bavarian families in 1857, Anaheim was originally called Campo Alemán (Spanish for German Camp). The city was incorporated on February 10, 1870. Anaheim's founders hoped to make the area a wine-growing region, but their vineyards were destroyed by insects in the late nineteenth century.

Orange groves gradually replaced the dying vineyards. With the orange growers’ labels advertising a sunny, California lifestyle, the city grew to over 5,000 residents by 1920. After World War II, Anaheim continued to grow as returning servicemen who trained in the area came back to build their homes.

Today's Anaheim began to take shape in 1955, when the Stanford Research Company suggested that Walt Disney build his then-new theme park here, in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere at the time: 160 acres of orange and walnut trees.