Tustin is a city in Orange County, California, United States, within the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276.
History
thumb|left|Tustin in 1890
Presently known as Red Hill, it was previously called the Katuktu hill by the indigenous while the Spanish also came up with the name "Cerrito de las ranas" which translates to little hill of frogs due to the quantity of frogs inhabiting the area.
On November 1, 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano became the area's first permanent European settlement in Alta California, New Spain.
In 1801, the Spanish Empire granted to José Antonio Yorba, which he named Rancho San Antonio. Yorba's great rancho included the lands where the cities and communities of Olive, Orange, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach stand today. Smaller ranchos evolved from this large rancho including the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana.
After the Mexican–American War, Alta California became part of the United States and American settlers arrived in this area. Columbus Tustin, a carriage maker from Northern California, founded the city in 1868 on of land from the former Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. The city was incorporated in 1927 with a population of about 900. The townsite was bordered by Camino Real on the south, Newport Avenue on the east, 1st Street on the north, and Route 43, now known as the Costa Mesa Freeway, on the west.
20th century
During World War II, a Navy anti-submarine airship base (later to become a Marine Corps helicopter station) was established on unincorporated land south of the city; the two dirigible hangars are among the largest wooden structures ever built and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and ASCE List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks. The north hangar burned down in 2023.
Suburban growth after the war resulted in increased population, annexation of nearby unincorporated land, including the former Marine Corps Air Station, and development of orchards and farmland into housing tracts and shopping centers.
In 1996, two white supremacists, Gunner Lindberg and Domenic M. Christopher, stabbed a 24-year-old Vietnamese American to death on the Tustin High School tennis courts. In 2008, Lindberg became the first person in Orange County to be sentenced to death for a hate crime.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.2 square miles (28.9 km). Sycamores and oaks, native to the area, grew in abundance at the time of the founding of the city, and city founder Columbus Tustin was responsible for planting many more along the streets of the city.
Neighborhoods
- Aliso
- Columbus Grove
- Columbus Square
- Greenwood
- Old Town Tustin
- Tustin Legacy
- Tustin Meadows/Peppertree/Laurelwood (one of the city's oldest planned neighborhoods)
- Tustin Ranch
Climate
Tustin has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa).