Costa Mesa incorporated on June 30, 1953, 65 years ago this month. While this is Costa Mesa’s official “birthday,” other dates are worth remembering, too.
98 years ago the farming community of Harper, near the intersection of Newport and Harbor, changed its name to Costa Mesa.
~110 years ago settlement in Harper, the town that became Costa Mesa, began in earnest.
131 years ago the tract map was filed for Fairview, placing it near the intersection of present-day of Harbor and Adams.
132 years ago the “Boston Colony” of Paularino was settled between Fairview and Newport on today’s north side.
~200 years ago the Diego Sepulveda Adobe was built as an official estancia of Mission San Juan Capistrano.
208 years ago the Spanish empire granted future Costa Mesa land to José Antonio Yorba and Juan Pablo Peralta.
~1500 years ago the Tongva settled in Costa Mesa, establishing an important village overlooking the Santa Ana River.
Between 3,500 and 8,500 years ago the “Milling Stone Horizon Culture” introduced its mysterious cogged stones to the area.
~5 million years ago the sedimentary Los Angeles basin began rising from the sea.
