There's a Westminster Avenue in Costa Mesa, and a city named Westminster just to the north. Both are named for a particular religious doctrine. In the 1870s, many of the old California ranchos were broken up and sold off. A New Jersey émigré purchased 6,500 acres in what's now north Orange County. And he had a particular purpose in mind.

Phil Brigandi says, "Westminster was started by the Presbyterian minister from Anaheim. His name was Lemuel Webber." Brigandi wrote "Orange County Place Names A-Z." He says Reverend Webber envisioned a temperance town. "And it's named Westminster, not Westminister, because the Westminster Confession is one of the big doctrinal statements of the Presbyterian church."

Reverend Webber died in 1874, just a couple of years after he founded Westminster. Brigandi says you can still see his tombstone in the old Anaheim cemetery. "The good he did will survive when this stone has turned to dust." Reverend Webber's dream of a dry city didn't last. Today, there are more than a dozen liquor stores within the city limits.

(Airdate: 9/6/2008)