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1951 Map of Newport Beach

Name: 1951 Topographic Map of Newport Beach
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1951
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1951

About this map

The Santa Ana River carves through this coastal landscape, separating the developing residential blocks of Costa Mesa from the agricultural and oil-producing plains to the west. In the years following World War II, the area shows a transitional character where rural settlements like Wintersburg and Smeltzer persist alongside growing suburban tracts. Extensive oil fields dominate the coastal bluffs of Huntington Beach, marked by dense clusters of oil wells and tanks that overlook the Pacific Ocean.

Near the southern edge, the complex geography of Newport Bay is fully articulated, featuring the established dredging and development of Lido Isle and Balboa Island. Inland, the Pacific Electric railway and the Southern Pacific lines trace the older industrial and transit corridors that connected these seaside towns to Santa Ana. Large institutional footprints like the Naval Reservation and Orange Coast College signal the region's mid-century expansion.