[1] McFadden Wharf was built in what is today Newport Beach, California, Orange County in 1888.

In 1854, the Yorba family sold Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana to José Antonio Andrés Sepúlveda.

In 1869, William Spurgeon and Ward Bradford purchased 74.27 acres (0.3006 km2) of the ranch to form the city of Santa Ana.

But the port of San Pedro was bigger and closer to Los Angeles and shipping decreased.

In 1899 James McFadden sold the wharf and railroad line to the Southern Pacific Transportation Company.

Collins, President of the Associated Oil Company, saw the town as a place to make a sea resort, not a shipping port.

[3][4][5][6][7][8] The place of Old Landing at San Joaquin Bay was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.198) on June 20, 1935.

The first ship to enter the bay was the 105-ton, flat-bottomed sternwheel steamer SS Vaquero with cargo of 15,000 shingles and 5,000 feet of lumber from San Diego.