The land which includes Huntington Beach was in the Spanish land grant,
Las Bolsas, given to Manuel Nieto in 1797. Later it was part of the Stearns
ranch holdings which were dissolved during the 1880's land boom as farms
developed on the former range land. Some of these early farmers settled at
several locations in what is now northern Huntington Beach, Westminster,
and Fountain Valley. Post Offices were established, schools and churches
built.
In 1902, a group of farmers and investors decided to build a residential/resort
community on the bluff above a popular Shell Beach. Spurred on by the success
of Atlantic City on the East Coast, they named their venture "Pacific
City." Although the boom of the 1880's was long over, the entrepreneurs
hoped to capitalize on a new one developing in coastal resort cities like
Long Beach and Newport Beach. However, the first speculators did not have
the resources to carry out successful promotion. Soon they sold to a group
of Los Angeles businessmen, ultimately including Henry E. Huntington. Huntington
was expanding his Pacific Electric Railway then and was ready to bring it
into coastal Orange County. On July 4, 1904, the first Red Cars of the Pacific
Electric rolled in to the new city and its name was changed to Huntington
Beach.