Olive, California

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Olive is an unincorporated parcel of about 25 acres surrounded by the city of Orange, California, USA. The development is located along Lincoln Avenue between Eisenhower Park and Orange-Olive Avenue. This area is in the northern part of the city of Orange, and is two miles west of Anaheim Hills, as well as close to the Anaheim border. It is set on a small berm (about 50 feet higher than the surrounding area) of land, and was created in 1887 by a developer in the Olive industry. Since this creation, many of the 63 lots have been subdivided, and are now at a minimum of 1/4 acre, which is county code for the area. A condo project is threatening the integrity of the community, as is the city of Orange's attempts to incorporate the area into the City of Orange. At under 200 residents, it is one of the smallest islands in Orange County to be recognized with a name of reputation.

Many of the residents here consider themselves to like the more rural appeal of the community. The area lacks sidewalks, and has homes that were constructed pre-1930's for the most part set deep on their lots. Although it is very small in size, there is no through traffic in the community often only keeping the area convenient for its residents. It is marked only by the entrance that says "Olive Heights" at the corner of Palm Avenue and Lincoln Avenue. The students that live here attend Olive Elementary, which temporarily closed in the 1990's due to lack of enrollment.

[edit] History

Members of the Tongva and Juaneño/Luiseño nations long inhabited this area. After the 1769 expedition of Gaspar de Portolà, a Spanish expedition led by Father Junipero Serra named the area Vallejo de Santa Ana (Valley of Saint Anne). On November 1, 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano became the areas first permanent European settlement in Alta California, New Spain.

In 1801, the Spanish Empire granted 62,500 acres to Jose Antonio Yorba, which he named Rancho San Antonio. Yorba's great rancho included the lands where the cities of Olive, Orange, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach stand today. Smaller ranchos evolved from this large rancho including the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana.

After the Mexican-American war, Alta California was ceded to the United States by México with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and many Californios lost titles to their lands.

In 1875, when American settlers were considering renaming the town of Richland, Olive was one of the proposed names, along with Lemon, Walnut, and Orange. When the city was renamed Orange, California, the other three names were assigned to streets in the new town. Orange Olive Rd. roughly bisects the Olive community.