The Legacy of the Civil War in Orange County

Photo above, courtesy Orange
County Register
Local author,
Civil War historian, former Santa Ana mayor, and
long-time SAHPS supporter Gordon Bricken
received some great coverage in the Register for
his wonderful book, Pioneers in Blue and Gray,
which documents Civil War vets who lived and
died in Orange County.
Click here to view the article. If
you're interested in buying the book, SAHPS has
a few left. Email Roberta at
sales@sahps.org for information and costs.
OC History
Book on Railroads & Depots

New from Arcadia
Publishing’s Images of Rail series is
Railroads and Depots of Orange County by
local author, as well as long-time SAHPS member
& volunteer, Rob
Richardson. In over 200 vintage photographs,
Richardson shares the history of railroads in
Orange County.
Railroads have been a part of Orange County for
over 130 years. The great names of American
railroading including Atchison, Topeka, Santa
Fe, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific were
firmly planted here by the early 1920s and
linked with the largest interurban rail system
in the United States, the famed Pacific Electric
Railway. Thousands of people passed through
Orange County's depots during the 1940s as they
came to serve at the many military bases located
here during World War II.
The
names have since changed and yet the county's
rail scene remains as dynamic as ever, with
Amtrak, Metrolink, and amusement park railroads
joining the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and
Union Pacific. Railroad depots, new and old, are
located across Orange County and continue on
both as vital parts of history and the future of
transportation for America's fifth most
populated county.
Highlights of
Railroads and Depots of Orange County:
· Offers a complete
review of Orange County’s railroad history
dating back to 1877
· Shows how
railroads were a key factor in Orange County’s
early settlement, agricultural development and
population growth
· Displays
rarely-seen images primarily from local Orange
County photographers including Tom Gildersleeve,
Cliff Prather, Robbe Gibson, Rob Richardson and
various local history collections
The book is
available at area bookstores, independent
retailers, and through the Society. Contact
us directly at
sales@sahps.org if you'd like to purchase a
copy.
Civil War Updates
Thanks to work by
Charles Beal, and his compatriots Glen
Roosevelt, Gordon Bricken, Paul Gillette and the
Civil War Roundtable of Orange County, the
important impact of the men and women who left
the Mid-West, South, and East Coast after the US
Civil War to come to the West Coast and make a
better life for their future, and in particular
Orange County, are not forgotten.
Click here
for more information on the contributions and to
learn about the latest updates about who is
interred in local cemeteries.
County Historical Site 51
The Society is proud
to announce that the Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle
House and Medical Museum is the recipient of the
Orange County Historical Commission’s Historic
Plaque No. 51.
The plaque was dedicated at a ceremony at
the Dr. Howe-Waffle House on Saturday, March 28,
2009. Not so coincidentally, this
date was chosen for the ceremony because it is
also the anniversary of the day the house was
moved 34 years ago, and we felt that this would
be an appropriate way to celebrate!

Thank You!
To all of our friends - members, residents,
city leaders and staff, and local businesses -
who helped us raise the money needed to
perform a major renovation on the House --
including painting, new roof, gutters,
wrought-iron fence repair, landscaping, etc.,
etc., we thank you!
Click
here to see the latest photos. We'll have
photos of our renovation event posted soon.
Meanwhile, here's the banner we're proudly
hanging saying "Thanks!"

»
Downtown Walking Tour
--
Our Downtown Architectural walking tours are
available on the first
Saturday of each month -- only by reservation at least 3-4 days in
advance. Do not show up
without a reservation. (Our volunteer tour guide will only be there if
prior reservations are made.)
This is a 2 to 3 hour tour of downtown beginning at about 2:30 pm. Call
714 547-9645 in advance.
Leave your name and phone number. Our tour guide will contact you to
confirm the reservation.
Click here for
more information and to see photos of a few of the
buildings you will see.
»
Santa Ana
Naval Air Station
Photos Now Online:
Our good friends with the
Tustin Area
Historical Society have posted some great photos of the early days
of the Santa Ana Naval Air
Station (the blimp hangers). Before they start tearing one of
them down in the name of
"progress" (we need more shopping centers and houses in
that area), you might want to look
at the old photos and maybe take some quick peaks of what is still there while you're
shopping
at the new Costco. Visit the Tustin History site at
www.TustinHistory.com and click on the
links
to go to the Lighter-than-Air (LTA) Blimp Airbase Photos.
» Vintage
Orange County History Books by Jim Sleeper available
for a
limited time! The Society has
obtained a few
copies of the 1982 classic
Orange County Almanac (3rd edition) and
Great Movies Shot in Orange
County. Just as fact-filled
and witty as they were 20+ years ago,
Jim's classic books have a wonderful humor that makes
history fun.
These are tough books to find but we have them and we
have new copies!
Go to our
online store for info.
A photo
tour of the Santa Ana Firefighter's Museum

The Dr. Howe-Waffle House Postcard

Thanks to a donation by
Santa Ana Realty,
the Society has created a new postcard using John Carlyle's great
watercolor of the Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle House -- based on an early
photograph. The postcard costs $1 by mail (send cash, stamps, or
check to our 120 Civic Center address. Members are entitled to a
copy for free if they send a stamped, self-addressed business envelop
(#10). To see more of John's illustrations, go to
our gallery of his work.
Postcard Book Goes Into Fourth
Printing!
Our publisher, Arcadia Publishing, has
announced that due to the extreme success of the book,
Santa Ana in Vintage Postcards is going into
it's 4th printing! This is highly unusual for a history book of a
medium-sized city like Santa Ana and we have all of you to thank!
Our intent was to help promote the history and heritage of the City in
this wonderful photo-oriented format. We partnered with Arcadia
hoping that readers would enjoy learning about history this way.
It has succeeded better than we could have
hoped. People who might not have ever bought a history book are
enjoying this "photo album" of the past. One of our goals as
historians and as a historical society is to encourage the celebration and
enjoyment of our local history. We hoped this book would help.
And it has!
To all of you who purchased a copy for
yourselves, your family, your friends, we say Thank you for your support!
Enjoy the history!
The Historic Downtown Santa Ana Guide

The Society has won a Historic
Preservation Award from the City of Santa Ana and its Historic Resources
Commission for this guide. Thank you to all who recognized our
efforts in this. Congrats to Project Leaders Tim Rush and Guy Ball,
and writer Catherine Cate who were awarded this honor.
SAHPS has published the Historic Downtown Santa Ana
Guide -- a fold-up map to the 36-block historic district listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Click here for more information.
A series of articles
celebrating the anniversary of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation
Society
The Saving of a Historic Home:
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1
Pictures of many
of the plaques at the Dr. Howe-Waffle House!
View some beautiful
watercolors of Historic Downtown
Santa Ana by John Carlyle
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