Fullerton

Fullerton is a city in northern Orange County, California, situated southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The name honors railway agent George H. Fullerton, who secured right-of-way land for the Santa Fe Railway during the late 19th century. Valencia orange orchards flourished across the alluvial plain, supported by packing houses and deep irrigation wells that tapped subterranean groundwater.

Brothers Edward and George Amerige founded the community in 1887 by acquiring acreage from Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana and surveying a townsite beside the railroad tracks. Early settlement expanded around the freight depot, which dispatched shipments of citrus fruit, walnuts, and field crops. Growing local commerce led to official city incorporation in 1904 as agricultural packing plants multiplied. Discovery of crude petroleum in the nearby Coyote Hills brought oil extraction derricks to surrounding ridges during the 1910s.

G&L Musical Instruments fabricates electric guitars and bass instruments, incorporating patented magnetic field design pickups inside its Fender Avenue production workshops. Pulmuone Foods USA manufactures organic firm tofu, refrigerated Asian noodles, and plant-based kimchi dumplings marketed under the Nasoya brand. Leo Fender founded his guitar company in Fullerton in the 1940s, and the first Telecaster and Stratocaster electric guitars were built there.

Fullerton Arboretum preserves diverse international botanical collections, desert succulent gardens, and the restored Victorian Heritage House dating from the late 19th century. California State University, Fullerton educates students across business, teacher education, and fine arts disciplines from an expansive suburban campus. The Muckenthaler Cultural Center hosts gallery art exhibitions, outdoor concerts, and community theatrical performances in a spacious Spanish Colonial Revival villa. The Fox Fullerton Theatre displays ornate Italian Renaissance interior plasterwork and courtyard murals originally crafted for silent motion picture screenings.