[4]: 6–7 The city of Santa Ana was laid out by William H. Spurgeon in December 1870 and its fortunes were boosted when the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in 1877.

The bill to create Orange County had, as a last-minute compromise, shifted the northern border to Coyote Creek instead, putting Santa Ana in the middle of the new county, which generated considerable antipathy from the citizens of Anaheim.

[5]: 37 In June 1893, the county purchased a site for a new permanent courthouse from Spurgeon for US$8,000 (equivalent to $270,000 in 2023), in the block bounded by Sixth, Church, West, and Sycamore (now Santa Ana Blvd, Civic Center Dr, Broadway, and Sycamore, respectively); however, the first building erected on this site was the county jail, completed in 1897.

[4]: 9  In 1899, the county board of supervisors solicited plans for a new courthouse, approving a revised design by C. B. Bradshaw and John Parkinson on October 3, and submitting a bond measure to raise US$100,000 (equivalent to $3,660,000 in 2023), which the voters passed on September 5.

[4]: 10–11 [5]: 96  The Romanesque Revival design used red sandstone facing from Arizona and granite blocks from Temecula.

[9] A seismic evaluation in 1979 concluded the building did not meet current codes, and the last county employees were moved by October 30.