John and Margaret Rea and their daughters Kate and Ella moved to Anaheim in 1896. Their walnut ranch needed a name,but John wanted a more memorable name than Rea Ranch. According to an article by C.D. Smith the October 1989 issue of Orange Coast Magazine,here’s how John Rea came up with a name: One evening,the girls were out in the yard when their father called them to dinner. “Kate—Ella,supper!” he called. Suddenly he had an idea. “I have chosen the name,” he announced. “Katella.” The girls were delighted and a big sign went up at the entrance to the family’s land: Katella. Others liked the name too. Soon afterwards,when the Anaheim School District built a schoolhouse nearby,they named it Katella School. The east-west path adjacent to the property became Katella Road,which by 1934 had become Katella Avenue. Walt Disney,who was not yet born when the name Katella was coined, came to Anaheim much later. According the same Orange Coast Magazine article,Walt Disney liked the name Katella: In 1955,Walt Disney built Disneyland barely a block away from Katella Avenue. “Why don’t you rename the old street Disneyland Road?” someone suggested. “No,” Disney said,“Katella is a pleasant name. And one to be remembered.” Kate Rea (1876-1972) and Ella Rea Wallop (1881-1966) both lived well past the opening of Disneyland.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 02:03:40 +0000
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