Santa Ana Tutors

About Santa Ana

Santa Ana California is a town lucky enough to be the home of two very prosperous and successful men, that helped shape the town into what it is today. The city was also good enough to declare their homes a historical site, and you can visit these dwellings for tours.

One house belongs to John Maag, a German immigrant who traveled here with his widowed mother and brother in the 1860’s. They settled in Nebraska where they started a homestead. When John became an adult, he purchased his own 160 acres in Nebraska, and was married to Catherine Steffers. They had six children in seven years, two of whom unfortunately passed away. In the late 1800’s John toured the west coast and fell in love with what he saw, moving his family there just a couple years later. He bought 31 acres of land and the couple preceded to have six more children! They found their niche in orange growing, but unfortunately so did a lot of other farmers, and many were struggling to make a profit. The Maag’s helped establish the Santiago Orange Growers Association which set fair market prices, and was the start of the Sunkist Growers.

The other home belongs to Hiram Clay Kellogg, whose father Benjamin traveled to California in the same party as the Donner’s. While Benjamin’s wagons along with most other made it through the treacherous pass, the Donner party was stranded as they had fallen behind. After a brief military career Benjamin settled with his wife and they had nine children, H. Clay being one of them. H. Clay did not wish to follow in his father’s footsteps as a farmer, and opened a successful sundries shop where he was able to save up enough money to attend college. He received his degree in Civil Engineering with the help of his Santa Ana tutors, and was a major influence and designer for many, many projects for both Santa Ana and other cities.

Today the houses are no longer lived in, but open to those who wish to see a piece of history. The guides act as your Santa Ana tutors, taking you through the rooms and sharing information about how they may have lived, and what life was like back then. Just make sure to keep up, the Maag house has 12 rooms custom built to accommodate their large family, and you might just get lost!