Olive is an unincorporated parcel of about entirely surrounded by the city of Orange, located along Lincoln Avenue, between Eisenhower Park and Orange Olive Road.

History

Members of the

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous peoples of California, Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Channel Islands of California, Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . In the precolonial era, the peop ...

and

Juaneño The Acjachemen () are an Indigenous people of California. Published maps often identify their ancestral lands as extending from the beach to the mountains, south from what is now known as Aliso Creek in Orange County to Las Pulgas Canyon in t ...

Luiseño The Luiseño or Payómkawichum are an Indigenous people of California who, at the time of the first contacts with the Spanish in the 16th century, inhabited the coastal area of southern California, ranging from the present-day southern part of ...

nations long inhabited this area. The village of

Totpavit Totpavit, alternative spellings Totabit and possibly Totavet, was a Tongva village located in what is now Olive, California. The village was located between the Santa Ana River and Santiago Creek. It was part of a series of villages along the San ...

was located at what is now modern day Olive. After the 1769 expedition of

Gaspar de Portolà Gaspar is a given and/or surname of French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish origin, cognate to Casper (given name) or Casper (surname). It is a name of christian origin, per Saint Gaspar, one of the three wise men mentioned in the Armenian ...

, a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

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 Mission San Juan Capistrano () is a Spanish missions in California, Spanish mission in San Juan Capistrano, California, San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California, Orange County, California. Founded November 1, 1776 in colonial ''The Califo ...

became the area's first permanent European settlement in

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

. In 1801, the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

granted 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 Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

, Santa Ana, Tustin,

Costa Mesa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge o ...

, and

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

stand today. Smaller ranchos evolved from this large rancho including the

Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was a Spanish land concession in present-day Orange County, California, given by Spanish Alta California governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga in 1810 to Jose Antonio Yorba and his nephew Pablo Peralta. The grant ex ...

. After the

Mexican-American War Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

, Alta California was ceded to the United States by

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

with the signing of the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...

in 1848, and many

Californios Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...

lost the title to their lands. In 1875, when American settlers were considering naming the town they had founded Richland, Olive was one of the proposed names, along with Lemon, Walnut, and eventually Orange was chosen because Richland was already a city in California. When the city was named

Orange, California Orange is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District ...

, the other three names were assigned to streets in the new town. Orange Olive Road roughly bisects the Olive community.

Setting

The community of Olive, California is located in the northern portion of the city of Orange and is west of Anaheim Hills. It is also in proximity to the

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...

border. It is set on a small berm about which is higher than the surrounding area of land. Olive was founded in 1887 by a developer in the olive industry. Since the community's creation, many of Olive's original 63 lots have been subdivided and are now at least acre, in keeping with county code for the area. With 258 residents, Olive is among the smallest "island communities" in Orange County to be recognized with a name of reputation. The area lacks sidewalks and its many pre-1930s houses are set deep on their lots. Because Olive is small in size, there is no through traffic in the community, keeping the area convenient for its residents. The only signage identifying the community is the entrance that reads "Olive Heights" at the corner of Palm and Lincoln Avenues. Students who live there attend Olive Elementary, which closed temporarily in the 1990s due to lack of student enrollment, although it now enrolls 376 students.

Notable people

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Russ Heman, (b. Feb 10, 1933) * Jazz Composer/Arranger Bill Holman, (b. May 21, 1927)

External links

"Neighbors balk at a proposed condo project in Olive Heights", Orange County Register, November 13th, 2006

References

{{authority control Orange County, California articles needing infoboxes Unincorporated communities in Orange County, California Unincorporated communities in California Unreferenced Orange County, California articles