With its manicured neighborhoods and glistening coastline, Newport Beach is also home to interesting and accomplished figures both past and present. Thanks to its founders with the vision to see the affluence and productivity the town is known for today, Newport Beach remains a top destination for residents and visitors alike.
The town of more than 86,000 was not always so bustling, however. Back in the late 1800s, the bay that is the present-day Newport Harbor was considered “too treacherous” to navigate, according to the town’s city guide.
Then considered a “swamp and overflow” land, Newport was a less-than-desirable place for Westward-bound settlers. So much so that in the mid-1800s, the state of California sold parts of Harbor, Balboa, and Lido islands for $1 an acre, according to the Newport Beach Historical Society.
In fact, the name “Newport” was christened by the principal landowners in the area–the McFadden brothers and James Irvine–who believed they had found a “new port” for their shipping business. The name stuck.
After the McFaddens moved their shipping business from the inner shores of Newport Bay to the oceanfront in 1888, McFadden Wharf soon became the largest business in newly created Orange County, according to the Historical Society.
By August 1906, residents in the now “booming” bay town voted to incorporate. Back then, bayfront houses sold for as little as $500, which would now be around $15,000 according to inflation calculations from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Such prices are a steal compared to today’s average of around $4 million, according to average median home prices listed by real estate company Coldwell Banker and Redfin, a home buying and selling website.
Just over a decade later, Gordon Milton Grundy made his mark as the town’s first doctor, according to an archived testimonial from the Newport Historical Society.
Credited with saving the city from the 1918 influenza pandemic, Grundy was also the town’s obstetrician and delivered so many children that the scores of new citizens came to be known as “Grundy babies.”
The doctor’s mark is still felt today. In 2015, “Grundy babies,” born on or before 1947 were called upon by the city’s historical society to attend a dinner event in their honor, commemorating one of the city’s first generations.
Grundy’s own son, Bill Grundy, also played a key role in carrying on his father’s historical legacy as the city’s own historian until his death in 2010. As the founder of the Newport Beach Historical Society and the Orange County Historical Commissioner, Bill played a pivotal part in the city’s collective memory and development as well.
Not only did Bill help develop and sell off all the lots on Linda Isle, but he was also known to be a “Newport icon” in his signature blazer and gold tie. The late World War II veteran remains a key figure in the town’s modern history, connecting his father’s legacy and bringing new life to the city’s memorialization and development.
