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05.10.

1857: Germans Found a City in California (Anaheim)

1857: Germans Found a City in California (Anaheim)
Photo Credit To Wikipedia Commons

Story Highlights

  • Historical event:
  • 5 October 1857
  • Anaheim is today famous for being the home of Disneyland, one of the largest amusement parks in the world, visited by around 16 million people each year. Anaheim was founded by 50 German families, who moved to California from the territory of what is now Bavaria.

German colonists founded the city of Anaheim, California on this day in 1857.



The city is now famous for being the home of Disneyland, one of the largest amusement parks in the world, visited by around 16 million people each year. Anaheim is today located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, some 40 km from the center of the metropolis.

Anaheim was founded by 50 German families, who moved to California from the territory of what is now Bavaria, more precisely from the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Franconia.

Most of these families were winemakers, and brought their experience with them to California. The name Anaheim itself is obviously of German origin, and is derived from the name Ana (precisely, the nearby river Santa Ana) and the Germanic suffix –heim, which denotes a home or homeland.

The nearby Spaniards called Annaheim “Campo Alemán”, which can be roughly translated as “German Field”.




When a grape pathogen destroyed the Anaheim wine industry during the 1880s, the inhabitants switched to growing walnuts, lemons, oranges, and other fruit and vegetables for sale.

Many people found employment when Walt Disney opened his famous Disneyland in Anaheim in 1955. Disney originally planned to build an amusement park right next to his film studios in Burbank near Hollywood, but soon saw that there was not enough space there.

He therefore decided to buy 650,000 square meters of land in Anaheim and built Disneyland there in about one year.

Disneyland’s popularity has grown across the years, as has the price of entry tickets; a daily ticket for an adult costs around $ 90. Despite the price, the number of visitors has been growing almost constantly.

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