1 A.D. -According to the New York Times of September 10, 1890, the Reverend Dr. Shaw, a missionary in China, discovered a manuscript in Si-Ngan Foo, proving that regular trade existed between China and this coast in the year 1 A.D. (Reprinted from Homer Banks "The Story of San Clemente.") 

1602 - Spanish Explorer Sebastain Vizcaino discovers a small island off San Clemente's coast and names it San Clemente, because it was November 23rd, the Feast Day of Saint Clement. 

1769- The first non-natives, (and presumably non-chinese) stepped into Orange County territory at San Clemente-the Spanish exploration expedition led by Gaspar de Portola. The first Christain baptism in California was performed nearby. 

1776-Father Junipero Serra officially founded Mission San Juan Capistrano. 

1811- The mission at Capistrano has its peak year of agriculture production, recording 500,000 pounds of wheat and half as much of both barley and corn. 

1812-The new mission church was destroyed by a major earthquake; the fall of its 120 foot bell tower killed 40 Indian converts. 

1818- The mission was sacked by a famous pirate, Hippolyte Bouchard, a Frenchman who fought the English in the Napoleonic wars.  

1821-Mexico won control of California from Spain. 

1835-Apprentice seaman Richard Henry Dana visited the mission cove aboard the hide-trading brig, Pilgrim. 

1840-Dana's account of his sea journey to and along California, "Two Years Before The Mast", was published in Boston. He called the cliffed cove at San Juan "the only romantic spot on the coast". 

1845-English sea captain Juan Forester, who had married California's governor Pio Pico's sister, was granted Rancho Mission Vieja (Mission Viejo). He also bought the Capistrano mission buildings for $710, and took his family there to live. 

1846- A small rancho at the mouth of the beach, Boca de la Playa, where Capistrano Valley touches the sea, was granted to the town's justice, Emigdio Vejar, but found its way into the vast Forester holdings in 1878. 

1848-The United States won California as its territory following victory in the Mexican war. 

1850-California was admitted to the Union and the flag of the United States flew over the mission settlement, still the only one in Orange (then part of Los Angeles) County. 

1874-Ole Hanson was born in a log cabin outside of Racine, Wisconsin. 

1884-Judge Richard Egan secured the name Dana Point for the coastal point visited by the author by having it included in the U.S. Coastal Survey. 

1887-88 - Santa Fe Railroad tracks reached San Juan Capistano from the north. Sale of the lots began in the short-lived railroad boom town, San Juan by the Sea, site of modern downtown Capistrano Beach. 

1889-Orange County was divided from Los Angeles County by overwhelming public vote. 

1923-The first tract at Dana Point opened with lantern streets, lookout gazebo and community center, developed by the San Juan Point Corporation headed by Anna Walters. 

1925- The master planned "Spanish Village," San Clemente, was officially opened by developer Ole Hanson, along with a syndicate headed by Hamilton Cotton. 

1927- Property went on sale in Dana Point, a master planned community that enlarged upon the 1923 plan. It was financed and developed by a syndicate of movie stars and bankers led by Sidney Woodruff. 

1928- The City of San Clemente was incorporated. They received title to the water system, the beach club, the pier, 3,000 feet of beach, 17 miles of riding trails, the community center, the school and parks for $1. 

1928-Edward I. Doheny Jr. began development of another Spanish Village called Capistrano Beach. It included a section of the palisades and an elaborate beach club on the sand below. 

1930- A three story concrete foundation was poured for a grandiose Dana Point Inn, but further construction was halted by the financial crash that sweep across the nation. Doheny Beach was dedicated to the state by the Doheny family. 

1934- Ortega highway was opened, connecting San Juan Capistrano with Elsinore in Riverside County. 

1937- Fighting out of the depression San Clemente opened the Casino and the Miramar Theatre, then called El Hidalgo. 

1958-The San Diego Freeway was completed throught the south county, linking the two major metropolitan areas-each way reduced to an hour's drive. 

1966-Construction on Dana Point Harbor breakwaters was begun and the harbor time capsule was ceremoniously sealed for 50 years. 

1968- The Cotton estate, showplace of San Clemente, was purchased by President Richard M. Nixon for his Western White House.