10/06/2025
Happy birthday Anaheim!
Our city was formed 168 years ago today by 50 German-American founders who came by way of San Francisco to start a wine colony in what is today downtown Anaheim.
This historic illustration shows that original 1.8-mile plot that was the birthplace of our city — a perfect square bounded by the North, South, East and West streets familiar to so many today.
Of course, what would become Anaheim has a much longer history.
Centuries earlier, the land was part of the Gabrielino-Tongva nation, Southern California’s main Native American tribe, which had settlements along the Santa Ana River.
In between, what would become Anaheim was part of Spanish North America starting in the 1700s, part of Mexico from 1821 to 1848 and officially part of the United States starting in 1848.
Today, we are a city known the world over for Disneyland — Walt Disney’s original theme park — Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Honda Center and the Anaheim Convention Center.
We are city of 350,000 people, 20,000 businesses and more than 25 million yearly visitors.
