William H. Spurgeon started his town with twenty-four blocks of about ten lots each and named it Santa Ana. The boundaries were: First St. at the south; West St. (now Broadway) at the west; Seventh St., north; and Spurgeon St., east. He spent the rest of his life in active service for what became his city. He died in 1915 at the age of eighty-eight.

Spurgeon opened a small general store that was also patronized by families to the south and west of town. In 1870 he became postmaster and kept the mail in a wooden shoe box. He became the first mayor when the city incorporated on June 1, 1886. The population was 2,000. The following March the city was reincorporated under the Municipal Corporation Act; it had already increased by 500 residents.

The history of public transportation in Santa Ana also began with William Spurgeon. He built and paid for a road through the mustard fields to make easier access to Anaheim and to meet the Wells Fargo stage with its mail and passengers. In 1874 Wells Fargo opened an office in Santa Ana. By 1887-88 the Santa Fe trains reached Santa Ana. As Jim Sleeper wrote, "ten horse cars went to Tustin and two trains to Fairview, while 41 trains or trolleys touched Santa Ana each day." In 1906 the Red Car from Los Angeles ran right along Fourth St. on the new Pacific Electric line. By the 1950s the route was given up and the tracks were removed. In 1953 the Santa Ana Freeway opened between Broadway and First St.