Much of Orange County's history can be told through agriculture – and its street names. Here's a sweet Street Story that sprinkles a little of both.

There's a Dyer Road in Santa Ana. That's D-Y-E-R. Phil Brigandi says, "Dyer is named for a man from Northern California named Ebeneezer Dyer." Brigandi wrote "Orange County Place Names A-Z."

"And his contribution to Orange County history is he developed the factories that convert sugar beets into table sugar. And this was a major industry in Orange County. We had five big beet sugar plants in Orange County. The town of Los Alamitos only was founded to go with the sugar plant there. And Anaheim had one, and Huntington Beach, and Santa Ana had several. In fact, the last of them still operating in Orange County on into the 1970s was on Dyer Road."

Brigandi says the inland areas of Orange County were better for tree crops like walnuts and oranges than the west county areas where row crops like sugar beets and lima beans were king. Today, the only place in Orange County where you can find beet sugar is at the grocery store.

(Airdate: 8/24/2008)