But a severe drought in the late 1870's turned the
marsh - fed by the Santa Ana River - into rich farmland, blessed with natural
springs and artesian wells, according to a city history written by Jim Dick, a
member of the Fountain Valley Historical Society.
Abel Stearns, a Massachusetts investor, sold off
large churnks of the fertile land to wheat, sugar beet, barley and lima-bean
farmers, according to the historical society.
By the late 1890s, the area had a blacksmitth shop,
the Fountain Valley School, a general store and a post office. When pioneer
James T. Talbert formed a drainage district in 1903 that channeled the wandering
Santa Ana River, land values jumped from $10 to $500 an acre.
At the turn of the century, the population was
20,000. By 1920, there were 61,000 area residents, and two small villages were
forming.
During the 1930s large farms gave way to truck
farming, mostly by Japanese-American farmers, in the community then known as
Talbert.
The 1950s brough freeways and talk of incorporation
to fend off possible annexation to the cities of Santa Ana or Garden Grove.
Supporters of an independent city favored a return to what they considered the
town's original name - Fountain Vallley, after the old school.
In June 1957, 160 voters overwhelmingly supported
incorporation, and Fountain Valley became Orange County's 21st city. The first
City Council, made up primarily of farmers, pledged to keep the new city a
farming community. But in the early 1960s the new San Diego (I-405) Freeway
sliced the community in half, driving up land values and luring housing
developers.
As development rapidly gobbles up the few remaining
chunks of farmland, some residents have tried to stem the tide. However, a move
to halt the planned 140-acre Southpark commercial and office development failed
when voters overwhelmingly approved the complex in a 1987 special
election.
Presently, the city's physical growth is
approximately 92% with the projected total population expected to peak at
58,000.
Historical Site:
Courreges Ranch - 8572
Talbert Ave.
Home of Roch Courreges, a Basque sheep rancher who came to the
area in 1878 from San Francisco. In 1896, he purchased 80 acres of land. He
founded First National Bank of Huntington Beach, the Smeltzer Telephone Co. and
the Farmer's Cannery. The water-tank house built in 1898, and the main house,
built in 1912, still are standing. the ranch is not open to the
public.
