Image: A. B. Chapman (00074438)

Description: Caption reads, "A. B. Chapman, co-founder of Orange, who helped lay out the townsite in about 1870." Notes: Below this portrait is a brief typewritten description of Chapman. It reads, "...Alabama, Sept. 6, 1829. Graduated from West Point in 1854 and was afterward stationed in Florida, and later at Fort Leavenworth, Benicia, etc. Resigned from the army, studied law and was in practice here with Andrew Glassell for 20 years. He was city and district attorney several terms. In 1879 retired to his ranch in the Santa Anita grant. Married Miss Scott." An article by Art Hewitt included with the image reads, "A poker game gave the city of Orange its name. Al least the story is told that the town's founders and two other early residents of the young city, then called Richland, sat down at a poker table, the winner to pick a new name. The name came from the area's most important crop, even then the Valencia orange. The town itself was founded by two law partners, A. B. Chapman and Andrew Glassell, who received tracts of land as a legal fee. They laid out their townsite in about 1870, dividing their 40 acres into eight five-acre blocks. In the very center they reserved eight acres for the Plaza, still the city's hub. In 1875 when Chapman had the townsite map recorded, they called the community Richland. The change of the name was necessary, and the poker game resulted, because there was another Richland in California."
Usage Terms: Public domain