Rancho Los Alamitos
Encyclopedia
Rancho Los Alamitos takes its name from a Mexican land grant in southwestern Los Angeles County
and northwestern Orange County
, California
. Los Alamitos means the Little Cottonwoods or Poplar
s in Spanish
, after the native
Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii)
trees there.
Rancho Los Alamitos originally included much of present-day eastern Long Beach
and all of the Orange County cities/communities of Los Alamitos
and Rossmoor and most of Seal Beach
, Cypress
, Stanton
and Garden Grove
in Southern California
. It is also sometimes referred to as Bixby Ranch, after its last private owners. The early 19th century adobe ranch house, still stands today, housing a museum which presents the history of the area.
, from the Native Americana
cultures to contemporary times. The area was first the location of the major circa 500 C.E. - 1780s Tongva—Gabrieliño sacred ceremonial and trading village of Povuu'nga
, now an archeological site. After Spanish occupation the ownership was to change and the boundaries would shrink many times. Situated in the floodplain
between the mouths of the ever-shifting Los Angeles
, San Gabriel
and Santa Ana River
s, the coastal plain
terrain of the rancho is virtually flat rich soil, and was subject to frequent flooding. The rancho building itself is located near Puvunga spring
s alongside on one of the few small hills, Alamitos Mesa, in the area.
Rancho Los Alamitos was one of five ranchos that resulted from the partition of the original Rancho Los Nietos
grant given to Manuel Nieto
, a former sergeant in the Spanish army, in 1784 by governor Pedro Fages
, coincidentally his former commander. Nieto's grant was not only one of the first three awarded by the Spanish in Alta California
, it was also the largest. After Nieto died, his children requested his original grant be partitioned. In 1834, Mexican governor José Figueroa
officially declared Rancho Los Alamitos as one of the five partitions.
In 1844 the rancho was purchased by Abel Stearns, a Massachusetts
native who typified the many Yankee
s who settled in California and merged with the ruling Mexican Californio
s population. Stearns, who married Arcadia Bandini
, the daughter of the early Spanish regional civic and business leader Juan Bandini
, became one of the leading merchants and major ranchos owners in Mexican Alta California
.
The rancho was on the periphery of the battles that settled the California Campaign of the Mexican-American War by 1846. During the California Gold Rush
, the rancho supplied much of the beef that would be herded north to feed the growing number of Immigrant
s who were flocking to the gold fields of Northern California from 1848 on. After California became a U.S. state
in 1850, Rancho Los Alamitos was the headquarters of the largest cattle ranch then in existence in the United States. Through shrewd business dealings, Stearns assumed control of Los Alamitos and many other surrounding ranchos.
After a disastrous drought in the 1860s, Stearns lost control of the ranch which was then sub-let to a number of farmers until the early 1880s when John Bixby, a cousin of Jotham Bixby and Llewellyn Bixby who controlled the adjacent Rancho Los Cerritos
, bought the rancho along with a group which included his cousins and Isaias Hellman
, the founder of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles.
Trying to capitalize on the 1880s Southern California land boom, John Bixby developed the townsite of Alamitos Beach, which would eventually be assumed by Long Beach. Before Bixby, could do much more, he died suddenly in 1888, apparently an appendicitis
attack, and Rancho Los Alamitos was separated between the three major parties—The developed Alamitos Beach properties were shared equally, while of the rest of the rancho, John Bixby's heirs kept the central section, the Bixby cousins from Rancho Los Cerritos assumed control of the northern portion of the rancho, and Hellman took control of the southern lands around present day Seal Beach. Unfortunately, a financial crisis prevented the various parties from seriously pursuing John Bixby's dream of developing Alamitos Beach.
The Bixbys had once flirted with sugar beet
production on their Northern California
properties. Now in the still financially struggling 1890s, Jotham Bixby arranged to provide land for sugar beet production and recruited the capital of William Clark
, who was amongst the richest men in the United States then, from his ownership of Montana copper and Arizona silver mine
s and of power companies and railroads, to build a sugar beet refinery plant
on a portion of the Bixby Ranch property. Later oil discoveries from the Long Beach Oil Field
funded the rancho.
The historic ranch house, surrounding ranching facilities, and some open landscape of Rancho Los Alamitos can still be found adjacent to Cal State Long Beach
. The Bixby family descendants donated the property to the City of Long Beach in 1967.
ranch house still stands today with its historic gardens by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
and Florence Yoch & Lucile Council
, are on the National Register of Historic Places
, and open to the public. The Rancho Los Alamitos house and grounds are a museum which presents the history of the rancho era, the country house era, and the region.
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
and northwestern Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Los Alamitos means the Little Cottonwoods or Poplar
Poplar
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....
s in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, after the native
California native plants
California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century...
Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii)
Populus fremontii
Populus fremontii, the Fremont cottonwood or Alamo cottonwood, is a cottonwood poplar native to western North America, in California and east to Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, and south into Sonora in northwestern Mexico...
trees there.
Rancho Los Alamitos originally included much of present-day eastern Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
and all of the Orange County cities/communities of Los Alamitos
Los Alamitos, California
Los Alamitos is a small city in Orange County, California. The city was incorporated in March 1960. The population was 11,449 at the 2010 census, down from 11,536 at the 2000 census...
and Rossmoor and most of Seal Beach
Seal Beach, California
-Neighborhoods:Seal Beach encompasses the Leisure World retirement gated community with roughly 9,000 residents. This was the first major planned retirement community of its type in the U.S...
, Cypress
Cypress, California
Cypress is a suburban city located in the northern region of Orange County within Southern California. Its population was 47,802 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, Stanton
Stanton, California
Stanton is a city located in western Orange County, California. The population was 38,186 at the 2010 census, up from 37,403 at the 2000 census. Like most of Orange County, it is more politically conservative compared to the rest of the state. The City was incorporated in 1956 and operates under...
and Garden Grove
Garden Grove, California
Garden Grove is a city located in northern Orange County, California. The population was 170,883 at the 2010 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city running east-west. The city is known outside the Southern California area for being the home of Robert H...
in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. It is also sometimes referred to as Bixby Ranch, after its last private owners. The early 19th century adobe ranch house, still stands today, housing a museum which presents the history of the area.
History
The history of the 85000 acres (344 km²) Rancho Los Alamitos is almost a microcosm for the history of expansion throughout Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, from the Native Americana
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
cultures to contemporary times. The area was first the location of the major circa 500 C.E. - 1780s Tongva—Gabrieliño sacred ceremonial and trading village of Povuu'nga
Puvunga
Puvunga is an ancient village and burial site believed to have once been populated by the Tongva people, who are the indigenous inhabitants of the region around Los Angeles, California...
, now an archeological site. After Spanish occupation the ownership was to change and the boundaries would shrink many times. Situated in the floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
between the mouths of the ever-shifting Los Angeles
Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
, San Gabriel
San Gabriel River (California)
The San Gabriel River flows through southern Los Angeles County, California in the United States. Its main stem is about long, while its farthest tributaries extend almost altogether...
and Santa Ana River
Santa Ana River
The Santa Ana River is the largest river of Southern California in the United States. Its drainage basin spans four counties. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows past the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, before cutting through the northern tip of the Santa Ana Mountains and...
s, the coastal plain
Coastal plain
A coastal plain is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in eastern South America. The southwestern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity...
terrain of the rancho is virtually flat rich soil, and was subject to frequent flooding. The rancho building itself is located near Puvunga spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
s alongside on one of the few small hills, Alamitos Mesa, in the area.
Rancho Los Alamitos was one of five ranchos that resulted from the partition of the original Rancho Los Nietos
Rancho Los Nietos
Rancho Los Nietos was one of the first, and the largest, Spanish land concession in Alta California. Located in present day Los Angeles County and Orange County, California. Rancho Los Nietos was awarded to Manuel Nieto in 1784...
grant given to Manuel Nieto
Manuel Nieto
Jose Manuel Nieto was a soldier from the Presidio of San Diego who was assigned to the Mission San Gabriel at the time his land was granted by the Spanish Empire in 1784.-Spanish soldier:...
, a former sergeant in the Spanish army, in 1784 by governor Pedro Fages
Pedro Fages
Pere Fages Beleta , nicknamed L'Ós , was a soldier, explorer, and the second Spanish military Governor of Las Californias Province of New Spain from 1770 to 1774, and the Governor of Las Californias from 1782 to 1791.-Life:...
, coincidentally his former commander. Nieto's grant was not only one of the first three awarded by the Spanish in Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
, it was also the largest. After Nieto died, his children requested his original grant be partitioned. In 1834, Mexican governor José Figueroa
José Figueroa
General José Figueroa , was a General and the Mexican territorial Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835.Figueroa oversaw the initial secularization of the missions of upper California, which included the expulsion of the Spanish Franciscan mission officials.This also involved the issuing of...
officially declared Rancho Los Alamitos as one of the five partitions.
In 1844 the rancho was purchased by Abel Stearns, a Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
native who typified the many Yankee
Yankee
The term Yankee has several interrelated and often pejorative meanings, usually referring to people originating in the northeastern United States, or still more narrowly New England, where application of the term is largely restricted to descendants of the English settlers of the region.The...
s who settled in California and merged with the ruling Mexican Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
s population. Stearns, who married Arcadia Bandini
Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker
Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker was a wealthy Los Angeles landowner.-Early life in San Diego:Arcadia Bandini born 1825 in San Diego, California, the eldest of three daughters of Juan Bandini and Marie de los Dolores Estudio. Arcadia and her two sisters were considered the most beautiful women of...
, the daughter of the early Spanish regional civic and business leader Juan Bandini
Juan Bandini
Juan Bandini was an early settler of what would become San Diego, California.-Early history:Juan Bandini was born 1800 in Lima, Peru to José Bandini, a Spanish sea captain. His father came to California in 1819 and 1821 and participated in the Mexican War of Independence...
, became one of the leading merchants and major ranchos owners in Mexican Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
.
The rancho was on the periphery of the battles that settled the California Campaign of the Mexican-American War by 1846. During the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
, the rancho supplied much of the beef that would be herded north to feed the growing number of Immigrant
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
s who were flocking to the gold fields of Northern California from 1848 on. After California became a U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
in 1850, Rancho Los Alamitos was the headquarters of the largest cattle ranch then in existence in the United States. Through shrewd business dealings, Stearns assumed control of Los Alamitos and many other surrounding ranchos.
After a disastrous drought in the 1860s, Stearns lost control of the ranch which was then sub-let to a number of farmers until the early 1880s when John Bixby, a cousin of Jotham Bixby and Llewellyn Bixby who controlled the adjacent Rancho Los Cerritos
Rancho Los Cerritos
Rancho Los Cerritos was a 1834 land grant in present day eastern Los Angeles County and Orange County, California The grant was the result of a partition of the Rancho Los Nietos grant. "Cerritos" means "little hills" in Spanish...
, bought the rancho along with a group which included his cousins and Isaias Hellman
Isaias W. Hellman
Isaias Wolf Hellman was a German-Jewish banker and philanthropist, and a founding father of the University of Southern California.-Biography:...
, the founder of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles.
Trying to capitalize on the 1880s Southern California land boom, John Bixby developed the townsite of Alamitos Beach, which would eventually be assumed by Long Beach. Before Bixby, could do much more, he died suddenly in 1888, apparently an appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
attack, and Rancho Los Alamitos was separated between the three major parties—The developed Alamitos Beach properties were shared equally, while of the rest of the rancho, John Bixby's heirs kept the central section, the Bixby cousins from Rancho Los Cerritos assumed control of the northern portion of the rancho, and Hellman took control of the southern lands around present day Seal Beach. Unfortunately, a financial crisis prevented the various parties from seriously pursuing John Bixby's dream of developing Alamitos Beach.
The Bixbys had once flirted with sugar beet
Sugar beet
Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...
production on their Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
properties. Now in the still financially struggling 1890s, Jotham Bixby arranged to provide land for sugar beet production and recruited the capital of William Clark
William Andrews Clark
William Andrews Clark, Sr. was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads.-Biography:...
, who was amongst the richest men in the United States then, from his ownership of Montana copper and Arizona silver mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
s and of power companies and railroads, to build a sugar beet refinery plant
Sugar refinery
A sugar refinery is a factory which refines raw sugar.Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, i.e. sugar with more colour and therefore more impurities than the white sugar which is normally consumed in households and used as an ingredient in soft drinks, cookies and so forth...
on a portion of the Bixby Ranch property. Later oil discoveries from the Long Beach Oil Field
Long Beach Oil Field
The Long Beach Oil Field is a large oil field underneath the cities of Long Beach and Signal Hill, California, in the United States. Discovered in 1921, the field was enormously productive in the 1920s, with hundreds of oil derricks covering Signal Hill and adjacent parts of Long Beach; largely...
funded the rancho.
The historic ranch house, surrounding ranching facilities, and some open landscape of Rancho Los Alamitos can still be found adjacent to Cal State Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach is the second largest campus of the California State University system and the third largest university in the state of California by enrollment...
. The Bixby family descendants donated the property to the City of Long Beach in 1967.
Historic sites of the Rancho
The early 19th century adobeAdobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
ranch house still stands today with its historic gardens by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. was an American landscape architect best known for his wildlife conservation efforts. He had a lifetime commitment to national parks, and worked on projects in Acadia, the Everglades and Yosemite National Park. Olmsted Point in Yosemite and Olmsted Island at Great Falls...
and Florence Yoch & Lucile Council
Florence Yoch & Lucile Council
Florence Yoch and Lucile Council , were influential California landscape designers.-Biography:Florence Yoch attended the University of California, Berkeley, Cornell University and finally the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign where she obtained a degree in Landscape Gardening...
, are on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and open to the public. The Rancho Los Alamitos house and grounds are a museum which presents the history of the rancho era, the country house era, and the region.
External links
- official Rancho Los Alamitos: Historic Ranch and Gardens website
- Rancho Los Alamitos: Historical and Architectural Narrative. (33pg. pdf)
- National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan: “Californio to American: A Study in Cultural Change”
- National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary: Early History of the California Coast
- Rancho Los Alamitos: History Timeline of Ownership & Occupants