Fullerton

Sister cities

• Morelia

History

Evidence of prehistoric animal habitation, such as saber-toothed cats and mammoths, is present in Ralph B. Clark Regional Park in the northwest of the city. The area of the city was a part of the homelands of the Tongva for thousands of years. There was a large village in the area along the Santa Ana River that has since been identified as the Hutuknga. The village was one of the largest throughout all of Tovaangar, or the Tongva world. It was connected by marriage ties to other villages in the area, including Genga. Acorns and seeds from grasses and sages were regularly cultivated. Trade connections were established with villages on the coast and those further inland. Fullerton was founded in 1887 and named after George H. Fullerton, who at the time was president of the Pacific Land and Improvement Company, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Fullerton, on behalf of the California Central Railway (another Santa Fe subsidiary at the time), helped secure the right of way for the railroad to go through where the city is now. George and Edward Amerige, two brothers from Malden, Massachusetts, who came to California in 1886, purchased 430 acres and would become the founders of the city. In 1894, Charles Chapman purchased an orange orchard in eastern Fullerton. The Valencia oranges he promoted from his Santa Ysabel Ranch, well suited to the local climate, proved a boon to producers; Fullerton boasted more orange groves than any other municipality in the United States. Cultivation of walnuts and avocados also flourished, and the Western railroad town became an agricultural center. Fullerton was incorporated in 1904, Drilling for petroleum began in 1880 with the discovery of the Brea-Olinda Oil Field and fueled the first real boom, peaking in the…

Geography

Fullerton is located approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles, and approximately north-northwest of Santa Ana, the county seat. The city lies approximately northeast of the Pacific Ocean by straight-line distance. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , comprising 0.05%, is water. West Coyote Hills is a ridge in northern Fullerton, including owned by Pacific Coast Homes (a land development division of the Chevron Corporation) that is the largest remaining tract of undeveloped land in north Orange County. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Fullerton has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated Csa on climate maps.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  46,152
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  41,424
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  38,627
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  36,615
• Allen's Hummingbird

  Selasphorus sasin (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  31,608
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  31,017
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  30,109
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  28,923

Largest nearby schools

• Los Alamitos High
  High · Los Alamitos · 3,055 students · 25.5:1 ratio
• Cypress High
  High · Cypress · 2,820 students · 24.5:1 ratio
• Anaheim High
  High · Anaheim · 2,750 students · 21:1 ratio
• Katella High
  High · Anaheim · 2,587 students · 23.5:1 ratio
• Troy High
  High · Fullerton · 2,584 students · 23.7:1 ratio
• Valencia High
  High · Placentia · 2,543 students · 22.9:1 ratio
• Sunny Hills High
  High · Fullerton · 2,429 students · 27:1 ratio
• OCSA
  High · Santa Ana · 2,252 students · 17.1:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.77 — 2026-10-15
  3 km NNW of San Jacinto, CA
• M 2.71 — 2026-10-11
  4 km E of San Jacinto, CA
• M 3.16 — 2026-10-09
  2 km SW of Signal Hill, CA
• M 2.7 — 2026-10-08
  2 km WNW of Fontana, CA
• M 2.51 — 2026-10-05
  31 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 2.81 — 2026-10-05
  32 km SW of Dana Point, CA