Stanton’s first push for cityhood began with a proposal to spread sewage on land. In 1911, Anaheim sought land southwest of its boundaries for what was then called a sewer farm. Nearby ranchers objected. Developer and former Assembly speaker Phil Stanton helped them organize a new city, giving residents a government that could block the project.
Historian Phil Brigandi records that the May 23 incorporation vote passed 76 to 65. The new city covered roughly ten square miles, then the largest municipal area in Orange County, despite having only about 750 residents. One of its earliest ordinances prohibited sewer farms. That first city government later dissolved. In the 1950s, different pressures brought incorporation back: neighboring cities were expanding rapidly, and residents feared they would be divided among them. Voters passed a second incorporation election on May 15, 1956, by a vote of 185 to 126. The city’s official history identifies June 4 as the date incorporation became official. Today’s small city grew out of two very specific arguments over who should decide what happened to local land.
