California Wire Company
The California Wire Company established the only insulated wire factory west of Chicago in the city of Orange in 1921. The company built a 30,000 sq ft facility at Maple and Palm to house 70 wire-making machines that was operational in January 1922. Business was good and expansions to the factory were announced in May 1922 and February 1924. In 1930, Anaconda Copper bought out California Wire Company and the building was renamed the Anaconda Wire Company. Anaconda closed its doors in 1982. Chapman University purchased the building in 1998 and restored in it in 2014 to create the Digital Media Arts Center. The restoration project received a Governor’s Historic Preservation Award in 2018. The California Wire Company building is one of numerous industrial buildings included in the Old Towne Orange Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
Orange, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt