Orange County Almanac

Today’s Anaheim boasts of a state-of-the-art traffic management system that uses a closed-circuit TV system to monitor street congestion. But it wasn’t always that way.

In the late 1800s, horse-drawn wagons sprayed water on dirt roads to prevent dust from blowing through the downtown business district.

And Anaheim’s first traffic law, passed in 1871, was targeted at speeders.

“No person shall drive any wagon, carriage or other vehicle, nor ride any animal within the limits of the city at a furious rate, or at a greater speed than 8 miles per hour,” the law stated.