Tustin/North Tustin
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The 1890's saw Tustin well established an agricultural community. Groves of apricots and walnuts gradually were replaced by Valencia oranges.
John "Zeke" Zeilian reigned over the public school. His students later organized as "Zeke's Bunch" and held annual picnic reunions in the 1960's at Irvine Park.
The new century brought many changes here, as elsewhere. As early as 1903, there were two telephone companies. Electricity became available in 1906. And, of course, automobiles became so common that the State Highway (101) passing through town had to be paved.
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Downtown Tustin
Tustin/North Tustin Community Links
The 1920's ushered in a new period of growth. Tustin built its own high school in 1922. By 1927, the population topped 900 and the voters deemed it was time to incorporate. The new City Council elected Byron Crawford the first mayor and hired "Big John" Stanton as the police force. The volunteer firemen continued to serve, using Sam Tustin's converted 1912 Buick fire truck (now on display in the Tustin Area Museum).
The impact of World War II was magnified in this area by the establishment of three military bases on nearby bean fields: the Santa Ana Army Air Base, the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, and the Navy's Lighter-Than-Air Base (where the huge hangers housed coast-patrolling blimps).
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Tustin Hangers
Tustin/North Tustin Homes
It was not until the mid-1950's that Tustin's growth began in earnest.
Freeways, quality schools, and post-war industries attracted thousands of people. The "quick-decline" disease, which decimated area orange groves, and rising land values induced the orchardists to sell their land to builders and developers. By 1970, the population had jumped to 32,000.
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Almost all the orchards are gone; now the surrounding landscape sprouts houses, schools, and shopping centers instead of trees. But Main Street, though sandwiched by elements of progress, will take you back through the years of Tustin's development, revealing, like a tree's rings, its boom years, its lean times, its changing tastes, and its gradual metamorphosis decade by decade.
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Nellie Gail/Laguna Hills Community Info
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