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City of Buena Park

Buena Park today is best known as the home of several world-famous tourist attractions, but the town originally was put on the map in the late 1800s by a Chicago businessman and the Santa Fe Railway.

In 1887, James A. Whitaker, a wholesale grocer from Chicago, bought 690 acres of the Stearns Rancho, part of what was once the sprawling Rancho Los Coyotes. Whitaker intended to create a cattle ranch, but Santa Fe Railway officials convinced him to use the land for a new town, according to "The Picture Story of Buena Park," compiled by H.A. "Hub" Chamberlain.

Whitaker filed his township papers in Los Angeles County (Orange County had not yet been formed) to create the town of Buena Park. The city was not incorporated until 1953.

Buena Park first became known as a dairy center, and both the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads built there. The Lily Creamery started operations in Buena Park in 1889. With the exception of a few wineries, the creamery was the first industry in the city, according to Chamberlain's 1971 book.

Today, the city's main claim to fame is as the home of Knott's Berry Farm, Medieval Times (where knights joust before crowds of diners) and Movieland Wax Museum. The city has grown from about 1,000 people in 1900 to more than 77,000 people today and covers about 10 square miles.

Buena Park's five-member City Council recently has embarked on ambitious redevelopment plans to help revitalize its economic base with more retail and commercial businesses while also updating the city's entertainment and tourist corridor along Beach Boulevard.

City officials attribute much of the Buena Park's physical and financial growth to the Knott family. Tourism generated by the Knott' amusement park is the single larges source of revenue for the city. Walter Knott and his family arrived in Buena Park in 1920 and began farming on 10 acres of rented land. Eight years later, the family built a permanent road-side stand where berries and plants were sold. In 1934, Cordelia Knott, using her own wedding china, served customers her first chicken dinners at 65 cents each. In 1940, Walter Knott began assembling his Ghost Town attraction as a diversion for hungry patrons waiting for their chicken dinners.