Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, United States, within the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

On November 1, 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano became the area's first permanent European settlement in Alta California, New Spain.

Yorba's great rancho included the lands where the cities and communities of Olive, Orange, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach stand today.

After the Mexican–American War, Alta California became part of the United States and American settlers arrived in this area.

Columbus Tustin, a carriage maker from Northern California, founded the city in 1868 on 1,300 acres (5.3 km2) of land from the former Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana.

The townsite was bordered by Camino Real on the south, Newport Avenue on the east, 1st Street on the north, and Route 43, now known as the Costa Mesa Freeway, on the west.

During World War II, a Navy anti-submarine airship base (later to become a Marine Corps helicopter station) was established on unincorporated land south of the city; the two dirigible hangars are among the largest wooden structures ever built and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and ASCE List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.

[5] Suburban growth after the war resulted in increased population, annexation of nearby unincorporated land, including the former Marine Corps Air Station, and development of orchards and farmland into housing tracts and shopping centers.

According to the 2010 census, Tustin had a median household income of $74,011, with 12.2% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

[3] Local politics in the late 1990s and early 2000s were dominated by the 1997 closure of the local Marine Corps Air Station and plans for the subsequent commercial development of the land, including an unsuccessful bid by neighboring Santa Ana to build a school on the land, part of which is within Santa Ana Unified School District's territory.

[45] Tustin High School is also well-known regionally for its strong Model United Nations program.

[citation needed] Springfield College, a non-profit, private, higher education institute, is located in the city of Tustin.