Brief History

The Brief History series offers a fresh and vivid look at the history of an area, from its founding to the present day. Get to know the southern charm of Mount Dora, Florida, learn the history behind Lake Norman, the largest lake in North Carolina, and travel through the rugged heart of New England on the Boston & Maine Railroad. From the proud river town of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky to Geneva-on-the-Lake, also known as Ohio’s first summer resort, these brief histories pay tribute to small towns and beloved landmarks. [View all Brief History books]
23 products
Boulder City
Boulder City
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Victorian Los Angeles:
Victorian Los Angeles:
$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Fort Collins
Fort Collins
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Saving the North Coast Redwoods
Saving the North Coast Redwoods
$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
A Brief History of Cooke City
A Brief History of Cooke City
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Pleasanton, California
Pleasanton, California
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
A Brief History of Eastvale
A Brief History of Eastvale
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
La Mirada
La Mirada
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach
Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach
$19.99 $16.79 Save 16%
Homesteading Haxtun and the High Plains:
Homesteading Haxtun and the High Plains:
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
University Park, Los Angeles:
University Park, Los Angeles:
$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Dublin, California
Dublin, California
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
A Brief History of South Denver & University Park
A Brief History of South Denver & University Park
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
East Bay Hills
East Bay Hills
$21.99 $17.49 Save 20%
Garden Grove:
Garden Grove:
$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
A Brief History of Norco
A Brief History of Norco
$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
A Brief History of Los Alamitos-Rossmoor
A Brief History of Los Alamitos-Rossmoor
$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
A Brief History of Fairplay
A Brief History of Fairplay
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
A Brief History of Orange, California
A Brief History of Orange, California
$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Silver Lake Chronicles
Silver Lake Chronicles
$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Seal Beach:
Seal Beach:
$19.99 $16.79 Save 16%
Brief History of Erie, Colorado, A
Brief History of Erie, Colorado, A
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
La Purisíma Concepción:
La Purisíma Concepción:
$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%

Boulder City

9781467137157

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
In the depths of the Great Depression, the United States undertook a task so monumental it demanded nearly five thousand people to complete. The Hoover Dam stands as a modern marvel, a testament to America's ingenuity. However, few know the story of the town that built the dam. To house the workers, Secretary of Interior Ray L. Wilbur envisioned a model of city planning, giving birth to Boulder City. Wilbur intended for the city to be temporary, to disappear once the dam was complete, but it didn't work out that way. Local author Paul W. Papa offers a unique look at a town that may have been forged by a dam but took on a life of its own.
Boulder City

Victorian Los Angeles:

9781626196087

$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Before the oil boom and rise of Hollywood brought today's renowned landmarks to downtown Los Angeles, an entirely different and often forgotten high Victorian city existed. Prior to Union Station, there was the impressive Romanesque Arcade Station of the Southern Pacific line in the 1880s. Before UCLA, the Gothic Revival State Normal School stood in place of today's Los Angeles Public Library. Elsewhere the city held Victorian pleasure gardens, amusement piers and even an ostrich farm, all lost to time and the rapid modernization of a new century. Local author Charles Epting reveals Los Angeles's unknown past at the turn of the twentieth century through the prominent citizens, events and major architectural styles that propelled the growth of a nascent city.
Victorian Los Angeles:

Fort Collins

9781626197251

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
While today's Fort Collins is a popular destination for foodies and weekend adventurers, it was once a lonely military outpost poised on the nation's frontier. Cattle rustlers and trigger-happy cowboys walked an uneasy line between saloon doors and the hangman's noose. By 1895, Fort Collins had lost some of its gritty edge, and it became a dry town full of churches, sheep ranches and sugar beet farms. The city was again transformed over the past century into a community that embraced a thriving beer culture and green living. Local historian Barbara Fleming traces the story of the Choice City from its early pioneer days through its modern renaissance.
Fort Collins

A Brief History of Cooke City

9781467142892

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
With claims staked, 1870s prospectors at Cooke City patiently waited for adequate transportation to get their ore to market. Eager enough, they named the town in honor of Northern Pacific tycoon Jay Cooke. Ironically, Cooke's influence in creating Yellowstone National Park stunted the growth of the town, as the park blocked any efforts to support a railroad through its borders. For more than sixty years, residents waited for rail until a new economy took hold--tourism. The dreams of the miners still live on in tumble-down shacks and rusty old mining equipment. And the successful vision of entrepreneurs offering rustic relaxation at the doorstep of Yellowstone continues to lure visitors. Historian Kelly Hartman recounts the saga that left hundreds battling for a railroad that never came.

A Brief History of Cooke City

Pleasanton, California

9781626193536

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Pleasanton is known today as the "City of Planned Progress," home to tech companies, grand houses and the Alameda County Fairgrounds. A century and a half ago, however, it was little more than an idea--a real estate project in the Bay Area backwater conceived to profit from the railroad's advance through the Amador-Livermore Valley. Discover Pleasanton's evolution from open range to a thriving modern city. From the Ohlone encounter with the Spanish to the city's formal incorporation and beyond, author Ken MacLennan and the Museum on Main offer up an incisive and detailed look at Pleasanton's history.
Pleasanton, California

A Brief History of Eastvale

9781609499501

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
The vibrant and beloved community of Eastvale was once an agrarian paradise. Developed initially as ranchlands, this area tucked along the Santa Ana River was transformed by industrious farmers who produced alfalfa and other crops, raised poultry and eventually thrived as dairymen. Eastvale's latest agents of change, however, weren't cattlemen or farmers but real estate agents. Indeed, land developers saw the same potential in Eastvale as the initial ranchers did. Beginning in the 1990s, developers created charming homes and planned neighborhoods for former city dwellers eager to live in Riverside County. Despite the changes, the bucolic ambiance of the bygone era remains. Authors Loren P. Meissner and Kim Jarrell Johnson recount the dynamic changes, important people and exciting events that created Eastvale.
A Brief History of Eastvale

La Mirada

9781467148382

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
La Mirada began with a vision. Andrew McNally, of the mapmakers Rand McNally and Company, saw the beautiful rolling hills as the perfect place to grow olives and lemons and purchased 2,600 acres of land that would become the modern city it is today. Originally planned as a collection of country estates, the area attracted dairy farmers and citrus growers who operated alongside the McNally Ranch, well known for its olive oil. During the building boom after World War II, families flocked to the area, drawn by idyllic spaces like Neff Park, and voted to incorporate in 1960. Join authors Glen Cantrell and Raymond Fernandez as they share the story of a thriving La Mirada.
La Mirada

Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach

9781626193116

$19.99 $16.79 Save 16%
Designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2015, Wintersburg Village's unique history is representative of the Japanese pioneer experience on the West Coast. Japan's post-Meiji period ended the feudal system, creating in the late 1800s social changes that prompted Japanese immigration to America. Many who settled in the Wintersburg countryside were of samurai ancestry, bringing an enterprising spirit to Orange County's businesses and farms. The village's history encompasses early aviation, archaeological discoveries, the county's oldest Japanese church, goldfish farming and overcoming discrimination to achieve civil liberties. Forcibly evacuated and confined during World War II, Japanese pioneers left an indelible mark on Southern California. Absorbed by the City of Huntington Beach, Wintersburg remains mostly a memory. Join historian Mary F. Adams Urashima as she resurrects a vanishing chapter of Orange County.
Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach

Homesteading Haxtun and the High Plains:

9781609498436

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Very little has been written about the real" northeastern plains of Colorado, the small communities that dot its open, sky-filled, mountainless landscape. Haxtun began as two separate homesteads, "proved up" by Alice Strohm and Kate (Fletcher) Edwards, who sold their land to the Lincoln Land Company in 1887, which led to the founding of the town. The area was generally viewed as useless land in those early days but was promoted as being full of opportunity--neglecting mention of a proclivity toward drought, hailstorms and blizzards and the gamble of the land. The High Plains survived, though. Its settlers, proving to be hardy and industrious, faced the challenges head on. Today, Haxtun and the surrounding communities of Fairfield, Dailey, Fleming and Paoli are filled with the descendants of those early settlers, people with a strong sense of community and pride in their little High Plains towns."
Homesteading Haxtun and the High Plains:

University Park, Los Angeles:

9781609499600

$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
University Park is one of Los Angeles's most diverse and historic neighborhoods. Beginning with the founding of the University of Southern California in 1880, the area has hosted two Olympic Games and numerous presidents and been featured as a backdrop for dozens of movies, along with countless other events of cultural and historical significance. Few areas in Southern California boast such a wide variety of historic buildings--residential, educational and commercial--dating to LA's earliest days. With USC as its anchor, University Park thrives as a microcosm of LA's culture, architecture and development from an outpost accumulating settlers into one of the world's great cosmopolitan metropolises. Join author Charles Epting on this historical inventory of University Park's significant moments and lasting legacy.
University Park, Los Angeles:

Dublin, California

9781625859655

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Dublin used to be just a small village on a major route to San Francisco. For much of its history, Dublin attributed its recognition to treacherous roads notorious for grisly stagecoach accidents and, later, near-fatal car crashes. Change came during World War II, when the community hosted one of the country's largest U.S. Navy installations. Rapid suburban development followed in the 1960s, attracting people looking to live in the thriving Bay Area. It also served as home to a U.S. Air Force base, a Cold War testing ground, a U.S. Army base and one of the greatest St. Patrick's Day celebrations on the West Coast. Author Steven Minniear shares the story of one of California's fastest-growing cities.
Dublin, California

A Brief History of South Denver & University Park

9781609492335

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
University Park was founded in the 1880s when the University of Denver (Colorado Seminary) moved from downtown Denver to land donated by potato farmer Rufus Clark. The University, founded by Methodists, wanted to escape the urban blight of the city and build an oasis for education. Liquor production or consumption was not allowed, and though today the area has many pubs a number of home mortgages to this day contain old covenants forbidding the making or selling of spirits. Around University Park grew the town of South Denver, which was annexed to the city of Denver in the early twentieth century. For many years in the late 1800s the primary employer was the University of Denver, but over time others moved into the area for its attractive homes and well respected schools. The area has traditionally been upper middle class and has enjoyed one of the lowest crime rates in the city. At the geographic center of University Park is Observatory Park, named for the famous Chamberlain Observatory, built in the 1890s and still fully operational with popular public viewing nights. In the early part of the century Colorado Governor Henry Buchtel lived in the park, as did a number of famed early DU faculty such as Ammi Hyde, who beat the freshman boys in an annual foot race well into his 90's. The area boomed after World War II as many from other parts of the country who were stationed in Colorado chose to remain and make it their home. The area has remained prosperous and continues to grow, sharing in the overall success that the Denver metro area has experienced.
A Brief History of South Denver & University Park

East Bay Hills

9781467137256

$21.99 $17.49 Save 20%
Like the mist rising from San Francisco Bay encircles the towering redwoods, the little-known legends of the East Bay Hills enrich a glorious history. Follow the trails of Saclan and Jalquin-Yrgin people over the hills and through the valleys. Ride with the mounted rangers through the Flood of '62. Break into a sealed railroad tunnel with a pack of junior high school boys. Learn how university professors, civil servants and wealthy businessmen planned for years to create a chain of parks twenty miles along the hilltops. Author Amelia Sue Marshall explores the heritage of these storied parklands with the naturalists who continue to preserve them and the old-timers who remember wilder days.
East Bay Hills

Garden Grove:

9781626198272

$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Soon after Alonzo Gerry Cook arrived in the Santa Ana Valley in 1874, he established a small crossroads village among the barren plains of coastal Southern California. With little more than a church, school and post office, he planted the seeds of a community that reinvented itself through times of decline and development, disaster and triumph. When the railroad arrived in 1905, the population doubled. The town flourished as an agricultural hub thanks to the bounties of oranges, walnuts, chili peppers and the crop that earned the city's nickname--the strawberry. Despite damage from the Long Beach earthquake of 1933, the postwar years witnessed booming development, and today, Garden Grove exists as a celebrated part of Orange County. Longtime resident and author Jim Tortolano tells the complete story of a resilient community and its memories, people, places and events that have stood the test of time.
Garden Grove:

A Brief History of Norco

9781609497019

$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Legend has it that Rex Clark won fifteen square miles of failed farms, rutted roads and broken water mains in a poker game. Using his wife's newspaper fortune, Clark tried orchards and then poultry. Local hot springs inspired Clark's creation of a giant recreational resort. U.S. presidents and Hollywood royalty sojourned at the fabulous Norconian until the Great Depression hit. The spa was converted to U.S. Naval Hospital #1 during World War II and then a top Cold War missile lab. Norco became a horse-raising enclave while staving off annexation from nearby southwestern Riverside County cities. Today, the city is known nationwide as HorseTown, USA. Join former mayor Kevin Bash and his coauthor daughter Angelique Bash for this engaging trail ride through Norco's colorful past.
A Brief History of Norco

A Brief History of Los Alamitos-Rossmoor

9781609498610

$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
The city of Los Alamitos and the contiguous, unincorporated community of Rossmoor exemplify small-town America amid the populous western Orange County sprawl. Their tree-lined streets, well-kept homes and first-rate schools are reflected in Rossmoor's selection as the No. 1 suburb in California (and No. 9 nationwide) in a 2012 study by Coldwell Banker Realty. The evolution of Los Alamitos from cattle ranches and sugar beet factory town to World War II military town and ultimately into residential neighborhoods took a century. Meanwhile, the planned "walled 'city' of Rossmoor" was created between 1955 and 1961. Despite annexation talk, Rossmoor and "Los Al" coexist apart together, so to speak, on Long Beach's outskirts. Author Larry Strawther traces the histories of these interdependent sister communities, which epitomize the reality in the legend of the Orange County lifestyle.
A Brief History of Los Alamitos-Rossmoor

A Brief History of Fairplay

9781609499556

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Explore Fairplay from the beginning with local historian Linda Bjorklund as she traces the town's story through Spanish settlers, early American government, Union-Confederate tensions and modern development. Even though Fairplay's remarkable gold and silver boom was reduced to ash overnight in 1873, a strong community overcame history's challenges and preserved its treasures. From the popular annual Burro Days to the Way of Life Museum, Fairplay gives folks a chance to celebrate and relive its rich mining history through festivities and time-capsule buildings such as the general store, drugstore, bank, Summer Brewery and Summer Saloon.
A Brief History of Fairplay

A Brief History of Orange, California

9781609492878

$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Orange, California, a city that started small, but grew big on the promise, sweat and toil of agriculture. Born from the breakup of the old Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, its early days were filled with horse races, gambling, and fiestas. Citrus was the backbone of the economy for more than half a century, though post-war development eventually replaced the orange groves. Historian, and Orange native, Phil Brigandi traces the roots of the city back to its small town origins: the steam whistle of the Peanut Roaster, the citrus packers tissue-wrapping oranges for transport, Miss Orange leading the May Festival parade, and the students of Orange Union High painting the O and celebrating Dutch-Irish Days. In doing so, he captures what makes Orange distinct.
A Brief History of Orange, California

Silver Lake Chronicles

9781609499587

$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
Situated between Los Feliz and Echo Park a few miles from downtown Los Angeles, Silver Lake thrives as a perennially avant-garde and enchanting enclave. From mansion builders and movie stars to bohemians, visionaries and just plain folk, discover Silver Lake's illustrious past and a fantastic cast of characters sure to enrich contemporary experience and inform the past. Colorful anecdotes about early movie magnates William Selig and Mack Sennett and silent-screen idols Mabel Normand, Antonio Moreno and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle flesh out these famous figures' lives in new and surprising ways. Other lesser-known but richly deserving stories about the area's pioneer families are shared perhaps for the first time. Authors Michael Locke and Vincent Brook present a rich tapestry of this unique urban oasis whose appeal seems only to grow.
Silver Lake Chronicles

Seal Beach:

9781626194892

$19.99 $16.79 Save 16%
The wooden pier, tree-lined Main Street and ocean views, coupled with a prosperous and happy community, led Forbes "magazine to name Seal Beach one of the five friendliest towns in America. Getting there, however, was a bumpy adventure. Starting in the 1860s as Anaheim Landing, the first seaport in what would become Orange County, it soon became a summer retreat for squatters and illegal saloons. Despite the efforts of real estate developers to turn the town into an amusement resort and an early center for aviation and motion pictures, Seal Beach became neighboring Long Beach's tavern, brothel and gambling destination. But order and prosperity eventually prevailed to create today's quiet residential city. Join author Larry Strawther as he tracks Seal Beach's evolution from raucous port to cherished community."
Seal Beach:

Brief History of Erie, Colorado, A

9781467118118

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
From 1866 until 1979, Erie was one of the largest coal-producing towns in the nation. Numerous settlers contributed to building Old Town and making it one of the liveliest communities in northern Colorado. The Columbine Mine massacre in 1927 incited major changes to coal mining practices, inspiring unionization efforts nationally. The improved rights and working conditions that miners struggled to win benefit employees across America today. Emeritus Professor James B. Stull illuminates Erie's earliest pioneers, houses, schools and churches and the town's enduring evolution.
Brief History of Erie, Colorado, A

La Purisíma Concepción:

9781626199842

$19.99 $15.39 Save 23%
In two centuries, La Purísima Concepción went from a fledgling frontier mission to a renowned California State Historic Park. Once home to many Spanish soldiers, settlers and hundreds of Chumash Indians, La Purísima held the seat of the California Mission government under Father Mariano Payeras. It withstood catastrophic events, including widespread disease in early years and a great Southern California earthquake in 1812. Emerging from ruins for the last time in 1934, after restoration by the Civilian Conservation Corps, structures appear today as they did in the early nineteenth century. The uniquely restored California Mission complex operates as a state park in a pastoral setting. Author and archivist Michael R. Hardwick chronicles the story of La Purísima and the resilient people and culture that made a lasting influence.
La Purisíma Concepción: