Most of these articles are from columns written by Tustin Historian Juanita Lovrett and come from older issues of the Tustin News (reprinted with permission courtesy of Southern California News Group/The Orange County Register).
In many cases, these articles on Tustin history were written 10-20 years ago, so some of the date/business references may no longer be accurate. In some cases, our editors have commented on updates. The photos are from the collection of the Tustin Area Historical Society. Please contact the Society if you would like to reuse them.
Recent pounding rain followed by a thick blanket of snow on Santiago Peak with temperatures that make you shiver. People wonder if it ever snowed in Tustin.
Tustin history has its own record of a UFO experience when on August 3, 1965, Rex Heflin saw disk-shaped craft near Tustin’s Lighter-than-Air Base hangars.
Columbus Tustin established a grammar school in the 1870s, but 50 years passed before the city had their first Tustin High School.
David Hewes is known for his work in reclaiming and restoring San Francisco in the 1850s and 1860s and then supporting the Transcontinental Railroad. But he and his wife played a strong role in early Tustin as well.
In 1868, Columbus Tustin and Nelson O. Stafford together purchased the land that was to become the future cities of Tustin and part of Santa Ana.
The early residents of Tustin were sure that anything they planted would “yield golden returns.”
Red Hill has a long and colorful history, beginning with the Indians who called it Katuktu, signifying hill of prominence or place of refuge.
Red Hill is more than a street in Tustin. The street is named after a certain hill in the north part of town with a soil that turned red from mercury in the ground.
Many Tustin wives and mothers were working outside their homes to augment the family income long before the term “Career Woman” was coined in the late ’30s.
Be it Football, Baseball, Basketball, Aquatics, Track, and more, Tustin sports leaders grew from local to regional, national, and international prominence.
Tustin’s early pioneers and their families played key roles in the development and growth of the new city of Tustin.
Fine view of the valleys and plains, constituting the central and south portions of the county could be seen from the North Tustin heights (Samuel Armor, 1921)
Tustin and Santa Ana have fought over many things, but one of the biggest battles was the fight for the Southern Pacific Railroad back in the 1800s.
Tustin met the demand with almost a dozen “filling stations” and garages with gasoline pumps on the less-than-two-mile strip of Hwy 101 passing through the city
Hiring John Stanton as the first and only policeman to serve in the just-incorporated City of Tustin was the first action taken by the newly-elected City Council in 1927.
Centennial Park, built as the hub of the Tustin Meadows development in 1968 and a wonderful place to stroll as well as a source of family fun.
In 1872, about 28 students would attend Sycamore School off and on with five of the children coming from the Columbus Tustin family.
Early service stations operated differently than today’s self-service operations. The high school boys hired to serve customers not only filled the tank, they checked the oil level, the water in the radiator, added air to the tires and washed all the windows.
The Tustin Area Historical Society was founded in 1976 for the purpose of preserving the rich and colorful history of our local area.
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