Balboa Island is a harborside community in Newport Beach, California, accessible to the public via bridge, ferry and several public docks. The community is surrounded by a paved concrete boardwalk open to pedestrian traffic, designated as a public walking trail by the city.
Balboa Island's Marine Avenue is home to local small businesses including restaurants, bakeries, fishing & tackle, and local crafts. The island also has a fire station and a post office.
Geography
The Balboa Island community consists of three modified or artificial islands in Newport Harbor: Balboa Island (), the largest; the smaller Little Balboa Island () to the east of Balboa Island, joined by a two-lane bridge; and the smallest Collins Isle () to the northwest of Balboa Island, joined by a one-lane bridge. The Balboa Island community is joined to the mainland by a short two-lane bridge on the northeast of Balboa Island, and a privately operated fleet of three, three-car ferryboats (Balboa Island Ferry) which provide access across the harbor to the Balboa Peninsula which lies to the south.
History
Mudflat
Originally, Balboa Island was little more than a mudflat surrounded by swampland. Today's Newport Harbor emerged only after dredging millions of tons of silt. In the late 1860s, James McFadden and his brother, Robert, purchased a large portion of the future site of Newport, including the oceanfront of Newport Beach, much of Balboa Peninsula, and the sandbars that were to become Balboa Island and Newport Harbor's other islands. They immediately began subdividing and selling their property.
They established a successful fishing wharf on the Balboa Peninsula and the townsite of Newport Beach. In the late 1860s, the bay was used as a landing to load hides, tallow, hay and other goods for export. In September 1870, Captain Samuel S. Dunnells’ steamer Vaquero ventured into the bay to offload a cargo of lumber and shingles. Captain Dunnells soon established “Newport Landing” by constructing a small wharf and warehouse near the west end of the present Coast Highway/Newport Bay Bridge.
The McFadden brothers acquired the landing in 1875 and for the next 19 years operated a thriving commercial trade and shipping business. However, the bay was not yet a true harbor and sand bars and a treacherous bay entrance caused the McFadden brothers to move the shipping business to the oceanfront by constructing a large pier on the sand spit that would become the Balboa Peninsula. The site was ideal because a submarine canyon (Newport Submarine Canyon - a favorite breeding ground for great white sharks), carved along with Newport Bay by the ancient Santa Ana River, provided calm waters close to the shore. McFadden Wharf was completed in 1888 and was connected by rail to Santa Ana in 1891. For the next eight years, the McFadden Wharf area was a booming commercial and shipping center and a company town began to grow. However, in 1899, the Federal Government allocated funds for major improvements to a new harbor at San Pedro, which would become Southern California’s major seaport. The McFadden Wharf and railroad was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad that same year, signaling the end of Newport Bay as a commercial shipping center.
In 1902, James McFadden sold all of his Newport property, including the Newport townsite, about half the Balboa Peninsula, and the swamplands that were to become Harbor, Lido, and Balboa Islands (totaling about 900 acres) to William Stepp "WS" Collins (WS Collins was also president of the Associated Oil Company) and C. A. Hanson for an undisclosed amount, suspected to be $50,000 with $5,000 down.
Creation by dredging, 1906-1941
Collins and Hanson saw Newport Bay’s resort and recreation potential. They took on Henry E. Huntington as a partner in the Newport Beach Company. Huntington had acquired the Pacific Electric railway system and used it to promote new communities outside of Los Angeles. In 1905, the Pacific Electric “Red Cars” were extended to Newport. By 1906, the Pacific Electric line Red Cars began servicing the Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Pavilion, and soon the Red Cars brought thousands of visitors from Los Angeles.
Collins built a dredge and, by 1906, began dredging a channel on the north side of the bay and depositing the sand and silt on tidelands that would become Balboa Isle. Between 1902 and 1907, many of Newport Beaches’ waterfront communities were subdivided, including West Newport, East Newport, Bay Island, Balboa, and Balboa Isle. This established the grid system of small lots and narrow streets and alleys that still exists today.