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Located on the "coastal tableland" above Newport Bay, Costa Mesa was once grazing grounds for cattle belonging to the Mission San Juan Capistrano.  At the beginning of the 19th century, missionaries built an adobe "Estancia" or way-station for the vaqueros who tended the herds.  This structure still stands and was recently restored and transformed by the City into a museum at 1900 Adams Avenue.
In 1810, this same area was a part of the Spanish land grant of Santiago Del Santa Ana made to Jose Antonio Yorba.  By 1880, settlers had begun buying portions of the rancho from Yorba's heirs and in the same decade established the town of Fairview.  A school house and church were built near the present intersection of Harbor and Adams, and a 25-room hotel accommodated visitors to the nearby hot sulfur springs.  However, in early 1889, a storm washed out the railroad and brought financial disaster to the community which soon reverted to a farming area.

By this time, the little town of Harper, named after a nearby rancher, had emerged on a siding of the Santa Ana and Newport Railroad.  Its first business, Ozmen's General Store, stood on the corner of Newport and 18th Streets and contained the City's first post office, established in 1909.  On May 11, 1920, Harper officially changed its name to Costa Mesa, which means coastal tableland in Spanish, and continued as an agricultural community, growing sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes, strawberries, and apples.

Building and oil drilling industries were just beginning to bring new growth to the City when the depression hit Southern California.  Industries collapsed and the local bank closed.  More disaster followed when the 1933 earthquake shook the town, damaging businesses and the Main School.  But the school was soon rebuilt and continued in operation as the Clara McNally School.  These buildings are now used for school administrative and service purposes.

World War II brought many thousands of people to the area for training at the Santa Ana Army Air Base, located on what is now the Orange County Fairgrounds, Orange Coast College, and the present site of the Civic Center.  When the war ended, many of these men and women returned with their families to begin the population boom which continues today.

On June 29, 1953, the City was incorporated and City Council-Manager form of government was chosen.  The new City had an area of 3.5 square miles and a population of 16,840.  Within 35 years, by 1988, the population had risen to 90,000 and the area to 17 square miles.

Calvary Chapel, one of the largest non-denominational Christian organizations in the United States, began in 1965 in Costa Mesa, California. Calvary Chapel's pastor, Chuck Smith became a leading figure in what has become known as the "Jesus Movement."

It has been estimated that in a two-year period in the mid '70s, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa had performed well over eight thousand baptisms. During that same period, they were instrumental in 20,000 conversions to the Christian faith. Their decadal growth rate had been calculated by church growth experts to be near the ten thousand percent level.

A Calvary Chapel pastor explained the remarkable growth as follows: A remarkable pattern kept repeating itself. As soon as we moved into a new building, our fellowship would already be too big for the facilities. In two years we moved from our original building (one of the first church buildings in Costa Mesa) to a rented Lutheran church overlooking the Pacific. Soon thereafter we decided to do something unprecedented at the time and move the church to a school that we had bought. The building did not match up to code so we tore it down and built another. But by the time the sanctuary of 330 seats was completed in 1969, we were already forced to go to two services, and eventually had to use the outside courtyard for 500 more seats. This was all fine in good weather.

But by 1971 the large crowds and the winter rains forced us to move again. We bought a ten-acre tract of land on the Costa Mesa/Santa Ana border. Orange County was quickly changing and the once-famous orange orchards were making way for the exploding population of Los Angeles. Soon after buying the land, we again did the unprecedented and erected a giant circus tent that could seat 1,600 at a stretch. This was soon enlarged to hold 2,000 seats. Meanwhile we began building an enormous sanctuary adjacent to this site.

By the time Calvary Chapel fellowship had celebrated opening day in 1973 moving into the vast new sanctuary of 2,200 seats, the building was already too small to contain the numbers turning out. We held three Sunday morning services and had more than 4,000 people at each one. Many had to sit on the carpeted floor. A large portion of floor space was left without pews so as to provide that option.

Calvary Chapel also ministers over the airwaves, and this must account for many of those who travel long distances to fellowship here. A Nielsen survey indicated that our Sunday morning Calvary Chapel service is the most listened-to program in the area during the entire week. As of 1987, Calvary's outreach has included numerous radio programs, television broadcasts, and the production and distribution of tapes and records. The missions outreach is considerable. Calvary Chapel not only supports Wycliffe Bible Translators, Campus Crusade, Missionary Aviation Fellowship, and other groups, but we donate to Third World needs. We then built a radio station in San Salvador and gave it to the local pastors there. We also gave money to Open Doors to purchase the ship that, in tandem with a barge, delivered one million Bibles to mainland China. Our financial commitment to missions exceeds the local expense budget by over 50%.

Today, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, the church which only had twenty-five members, has now established 1358 affiliate Calvary Chapels across the world and is among the world's largest churches with 20,000+ calling it their home church. It is one of the ten largest Protestant churches in the United States.

Today, Costa Mesa is a major commercial and industrial center of Orange County.  The 2005 Census noted population at 113,143.  The City, which formally adopted the slogan "The City of the Arts” in 1999, is home to a regional symphony orchestra and the South Coast Repertory Theater.  The 3,000-seat Orange County Performing Arts Center was completed in 1985.  In 2006, both the 2,000-seat Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and the 500-seat Samueli Theater held their grand openings.

The Estancia Adobe is a historical landmark located in the northwest section of Costa Mesa.  The Adobe was originally constructed around 1820 to house the area herdsmen, but it later became the home of Don Diego Sepulveda.  With the passing of the Era of the Dons, the property changed hands many times with the Segerstrom family obtaining possession in 1940.  In 1963, the Segerstrom family donated the Estancia and its five-acre site to the City of Costa Mesa as a memorial to the early settlers of the area.

THE ORGANIZATION

Costa Mesa is a general law city.  The voters elect five City Council Members at large from the City who, in turn, select a mayor who serves as the Chair of the Council and performs many other duties as head of the City government.

The City Council's function is similar to that of a Board of Directors of a corporation.  They decide policy, attend regular City Council meetings where City business is transacted, and appoint a City Manager to manage the day-to-day business of the City.  The City Manager organizes City functions through the appointed department directors who assist in the administration of the City.
Each year, the City Manager submits a recommended budget to the City Council.  Council Members study, adjust, and finally adopt the budget for the forthcoming fiscal year (July 1-June 30).  City services are then performed utilizing the allocated funds available from this approved budget.