Since 1920, the American Legion has had an active presence in Brea. Post #181 dedicated a structure on this site on November 8, 1924 followed by a transformation to this Mission Style building in 1931.
It housed the Brea Women's Club during . . . — — Map (db m199553) HM
Built in 1929, the Brea Plunge is known as the oldest continually operating municipal pool in Orange County. Generations of Breans have celebrated summer and learned to swim here with only a few interruptions. The Plunge closed for the summer of . . . — — Map (db m199733) HM
Opened in 1930
Soon after Brea was incorporated in 1917, city leaders saw a need for a
public park that could be enjoyed by all the city's inhabitants. Planning began
and in 1930 City Hall Park opened and quickly became the town's . . . — — Map (db m244171) HM
Many a child whiled away the hours at this fishing pond in City Hall Park during the 1940's. The pond also attracted a large population of bull frogs that became so noisy they disturbed the neighbors every night to the extent the pond was finally . . . — — Map (db m199731) HM
The five-acre site for old City Hall was purchased in 1928 for $30,392.82. This Spanish Mediterranean-style building was dedicated in 1929 and housed Brea City Council chamber and offices, police, jail, fire, library, Municipal Court judge, Chamber . . . — — Map (db m175849) HM
The course of oil production was changed in 1899 when the Olinda area became the first site in California to use the technique of drilling with the hole full of water. Having been developed as a source of fuel oil for for the Santa Fe Railroad, . . . — — Map (db m50337) HM
While the oilfield here remains active, the earlier community is gone. Dwindling oil reserves and technology reduced the number of employees, flood water from these canyons made life hazardous, and suburban development become increasingly . . . — — Map (db m189675) HM
On this site, Edward L. Doheny drilled the first oil well in the Olinda field in 1897. Olinda #1, drilled to 806 feet, pumped about 50 barrels per day (bpd). By 1898, ten wells were drilled, some producing up to 100 bpd. In 1899, the Santa Fe . . . — — Map (db m238742) HM
Born in Parsons, Kansas, twenty-one year old Ralph Barnes came to California in 1923 with this family and settled in Orange County. After a brief stint in the City of Orange, he secured a position at the First National Bank in Brea, then a small oil . . . — — Map (db m199735) HM
As part of a four-city Orange County campaign tour, vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon made a 10-minute speech in City Hall Park on October 20, 1952, in front of 1,600 excited supporters. Brea's "country doctor” Glenn Curtis introduced . . . — — Map (db m199730) HM
Approximately 50 feet south of this spot in February 1928, the first full-cantilever, low-wing monoplane was built in the United States. Named the "Humming Bird", this tiny plane was designed and built by young Austrian immigrant Fred Thaheld and . . . — — Map (db m199559) HM
