Downtown Orange began in the center of the Plaza. In the summer of 1871, Captain William T. Glassell drove a survey stake at the common corners of sections 29, 30, 31, and 32, and laid out a townsite originally known as Richland. In the center, where the two main streets crossed, eight lots were set aside to create a Plaza Square.
In the 1860s, the vast Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana had been broken up, opening the way for the founding of several new communities. Los Angeles attorneys Alfred Beck Chapman and Andrew Glassell acquired about 9,400 acres of the old Mexican rancho. In 1870 they had several thousand acres near the northern end of the rancho subdivided into large parcels (40, 80, and 160 acres) and placed them on the market. Captain Glassell, Andrew's brother, served as sales agent.