Collection: Wintersburg Celery Capital of Orange County

From the city of Huntington Beach’s Historic Context & Survey Report, describing the history of of the “townsite” known as “Wintersburg”:

“Wintersburg was developed in the late 1880s, followed by Oceanview, which was located immediately to the east. On November 7, 1906, the official subdivision map for Wintersburg was filed by S.H. Finley, Orange County Surveyor. The 1906 map depicts a rectangular four-block area running north to south that included Main Street (now Warner Avenue), Magnolia Street, Olive Street, and Cedar Street. The west boundary of Wintersburg was formed by Church Street (now Gothard Avenue). The subdivision was bounded on the east by the Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way and fifty acres of property owned by George E. Peters.

Henry Winters is credited as the key figure for the creation of the Wintersburg community… Winters came to California and purchased twenty acres of land in the Oceanview area of Huntington Beach (near the intersection of present-day Warner Avenue and Beach Boulevard) and tried his hand at agriculture with much success. He purchased several more acres for farming, including twenty in what would become Wintersburg and twenty in Fountain Valley. Through the efforts of Winters, the Orange County area became known for its celery production—so much so that he was named the president of the California Celery Company in 1898. In addition to growing celery, Winters grew potatoes and corn and is credited as the first person in Orange County to promote the agricultural value of peatlands, previously believed to not be good for cultivating. Other farmers were attracted to the Orange County area upon seeing Winters’ success.

(Wintersburg would also soon develop as an important enclave for many Japanese Americans.)

Our collection design was inspired by vintage seed packets to represent some of the amazing agricultural history of Wintersburg.