Doug M. recently wrote with an interesting query: "I have often wondered what the government installation was at the southwest corner of Edinger Ave. and Fairview St. [many years ago] ...I remember seeing large 'No Trespassing, Government Property," signs. The property is developed now and nothing remains of the white, large, two-story, woodframe structure that once stood in the middle of the field. Was it a listening post, agricultural research, etc...?".
Today, the site in question is part of Santa Ana and has become Centennial Park, Hector Godinez High School, and the Heritage Museum of Orange County.
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Newspapers and the web turned up very little information on the site's history, so I dug into the historical aerial photos. The 1959 image of the site, shown above, is probably the most interesting. (Click to enlarge.) At first, it appears to be a farm house with a circular driveway, surrounded by open fields. But curiously, the fields appear to be fallow in most years. Even more curiously, closer inspection reveals a rather large array of antennas spread across the property.
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The 1955 aerial (detail shown below), shows a white, circular object to the east of the "farmhouse," It looks a bit like those radar installations that dotted Orange County during the Cold War.
Next, I contacted Greg Rankin, President of the Orange County Historical Society and Principal of Godinez High School. He didn't know anything about it, but forwarded my query to my old pal Adam England at the aforementioned Heritage Museum of Orange County..
Adam wrote, "I have some info on the Centennial Park land I’ve gleaned through numerous interviews with various founders of this museum as well as my own research. ...On June 9, 1941, the United States Government acquired the land from W.F. and Marine M. Croddy.
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"...The property was used during WWII for 'spy training', the antennas on the picture were 300’ relay towers, during the Cold war, utilized for missile guidance. The farm house was a two story affair, made of thick cement, with three additional stories underground, used by government for unknown purposes. Paul Reardon, one of the early founders of [our] museum, wanted to put his office there but was refused. Individual farmers were allowed to farm the land, and the Santa Ana Unified School District was permitted to park equipment there.
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"It was owned by the government until June 15, 1967 when it was donated to the Santa Ana Unified School District. The remaining 99 acres were given to form Centennial Park and [an annex of] Santa Ana College sometime after this period.
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"SAUSD put Mitchell School on the grounds, but the rest sat unused. They were informed they would lose the land if they didn’t do anything with it of an educational nature. That was when the Exploratory Learning Center, [now the Heritage Museum of Orange County,] was formed around 1980."
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"SAUSD put Mitchell School on the grounds, but the rest sat unused. They were informed they would lose the land if they didn’t do anything with it of an educational nature. That was when the Exploratory Learning Center, [now the Heritage Museum of Orange County,] was formed around 1980."
It just goes to show that you never know what historic sites may be right in your own backyard.
