McFadden Wharf

The bronze and the register disagree about when this wharf was finished: the winter of 1888-89 on the plaque, the summer of 1888 in the state's text. Both agree the railroad made it matter. The McFaddens' Santa Ana and Newport line reached the wharf in 1891, and inland lumber and goods crossed it until the Southern Pacific took the line in 1899 and shipping faded by 1907. The wooden wharf lasted until the 1939 hurricane; the pier here is its 1940 replacement. At its foot the dory fleet, founded in 1891, still sells the morning's catch off the sand.

What the plaque says

McFadden (Newport) Wharf The original wharf at this site was completed in the winter of 1888-89 and was connected by railroad with the hinterland in the winter of 1890-91. It served as a shipping and distributing point for Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties until 1907, and provided the nucleus from which developed the city of Newport Beach. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 794 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the City of Newport Beach, October 1, 1965.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Puvungna — 17 mi
  The Acjachemen and Tongva place of creation: twenty-two acres of open ground on a university campus, still not in the hands of its people.
• Terminal Island and Furusato — 21 mi
  Three thousand Japanese Americans built a village here they called Furusato, and in February 1942 were given forty-eight hours to leave it.
• Point Fermin Lighthouse — 22 mi
  The first light into San Pedro Bay, lit in 1874 by two sisters, dark since Pearl Harbor, on a bluff that is still sliding.
• The Port of Los Angeles — 22 mi
  The busiest container port in the country, sitting on ground that was dredged into existence: marsh, then landfill, then Pier 400.

More markers nearby

• Old Landing — 1.4 mi
• Site of First Water-to-Water Flight — 1.7 mi
• Balboa Pavilion — 1.7 mi
• Diego Sepúlveda Adobe — 4.5 mi