Old Town Irvine
Old Town began in 1887, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway gained the rights to lay track across the Irvine ranch. Two years later, the Irvine family built a 30-by-100 foot warehouse to store and process the crops for shipment. As harvests increased, James Irvine set aside land for a small town to serve as a shipping center where up to 200,000 sacks of lima, garbanzo and black-eyed beans, barley or oats were stored, inspected and processed before being shipped across the country. The sack storage warehouse (1895) and granary (1947) known as the Irvine Bean and Grain Grower’s Building, a blacksmith’s shop (1916), hotel (1915), general store store (1911) and the Hamilton Bungalow comprise Old Town Irvine historic district, a California Historical Landmark. The warehouse and granary building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Irvine, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt