Yorba Linda is a young city on old land. It was ranchland for most of the 1800s, a citrus town for half a century, and did not become a city until 1967.
The rancho era
In 1834 the Mexican government granted Bernardo Yorba 13,328 acres along the Santa Ana River, the Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana. Yorba built one of the largest ranching operations in the region. After his death in 1858 the land was divided among his wife and children, and over the following decades it passed out of the family piece by piece.
A town with a name
In the first decade of the 1900s, Fullerton businessman Jacob Stern sold part of the old rancho to the Janss Investment Company of Los Angeles. The company named its new townsite “Yorba Linda,” joining the Yorba family name with linda, Spanish for beautiful, and began selling lots by the acre in 1909. The Yorba Linda Water Company was formed the same year to bring water to the dry hills.
Citrus, a railway and a famous birth
The first lemon and orange groves went in around 1909 and 1910. A school opened in 1911, a post office in 1912, and the Yorba Linda Citrus Association was organized that same year. The Pacific Electric Railway reached town in the same period, giving growers a fast route to Los Angeles markets.
On January 9, 1913, Richard Nixon was born in a small farmhouse his father had built on the family's lemon grove. The house still stands at the Nixon Library.
From groves to a city
After World War II, housing began to replace the groves. Neighboring cities took notice: Brea tried to annex Yorba Linda in 1958, and Anaheim and Placentia both tried in 1963. All three attempts failed, and on November 2, 1967, residents incorporated as their own city, known ever since by its motto, the “Land of Gracious Living.”
Growth followed quickly, spreading east through the hills in master-planned communities such as East Lake Village and, later, Bryant Ranch and Vista del Verde.
Recent milestones
- 1990: The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace opens.
- 2001: Black Gold Golf Club opens on former oil land.
- 2008: The Freeway Complex Fire burns through the hills, destroying and damaging homes in Yorba Linda.
- 2019: The Town Center opens beside historic Main Street.
- 2020: The new Public Library and Cultural Arts Center opens.
For much more, the Yorba Linda Public Library keeps a local history collection and timeline.
Last updated November 13, 2026. Details change; please confirm with the venue or agency before you go.