Item 09 - Fairview Street Improvement Project

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Architectural History Evaluation Santa Ana had created a solid economy centered on agriculture, manufacturing, and retail by the 1920s. This corresponded with Orange County's dramatic population expansion, with much of that increase concentrating in Santa Ana as it tried to acquire most of the region to the west of Orange County; as a result, Santa Ana became Orange County's commercial hub. Santa Ana increased from 16,000 people in 1920 to 30,000 people by 1929, due in part to the construction of interurban rail networks and the popularity of automobiles in the 1920s.Through the 1930s, Santa Ana's downtown business core witnessed success and expansion as many of its brick structures along Fourth Street were renovated with classical and contemporary elements (Marsh 1994). Most growth in the early 1940s and throughout World War II featured four area military bases, including the Santa Ana Army Air Base and the West Coast Air Corps Training Center, both of which were constructed to help the war effort.The Santa Ana Army Air Base operated as a basic training camp with no airplanes, hangars, or runways, while the training facility on 8th Street in downtown served airmen throughout the war (City of Santa Ana 2020). Following World War II, Santa Ana experienced the increased suburbanization typical of Orange County at the time, as servicemen returned from the war and demand for homes in southern California increased, launching an unprecedented period of growth and industrial expansion that would significantly alter the once-expansive agricultural, open ranch landscape. Santa Ana's population of 31,921 people in 1940 increased to 45,533 by 1950.This inflow of new inhabitants and immigrants would last for the next 40 years (Marsh 1994). The postwar housing boom accelerated change in the character of neighborhoods during the 1950s and 1960s, as demolition and new construction increased in neighborhoods such as the Santa Ana Triangle neighborhood to the northeast of the City Center and the Riverview West neighborhood to the northwest of the City Center.The 1950s were particularly notable for the expansion of the car industry following the end of wartime gasoline rationing. The Fashion Square Mall was built in 1959 close to the Bullock's Department Store to the north of downtown, and changing social and economic trends contributed to the suburbanization of retail districts. Santa Ana's population was 156,359 in 1950 and had increased to 203,714 by 1980.This flood of new people was caused in part by altering postwar immigration regulations, especially those that engendered the influx of Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnam War ended in 1975 (City of Santa Ana 2020). Downtown commercial deterioration was prevalent from the early 1960s until the late 1970s. This sparked a historic preservation movement whose proponents aimed to preserve the historic integrity of structures or promote change through reversible improvements. During the 1960s and 1980s, some historic properties in the French Park and Heninger Park neighborhoods were demolished and replaced with high- density multi-family properties, coinciding with the 1970s effort to establish the French Park neighborhood as the Santa Ana's first local historic district in 1984 and the Heninger Park neighborhood as the second in 1986 through the creation of Specific Development zoning districts.The Downtown Santa Ana Historic District was added to the National Register in 1984, and the French Park Historic District was added in 1999. In 1998, the Santa Ana City Council passed the Historic Preservation Ordinance, Chapter 30 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code, which established the City's local inventory of ECORP Consulting, Inc. 10 January 2025 Fairview Street Widening Project 2024-088.03 9-101