Rancho Potrero Grande was a 4432 acres (17.9 km²) Mexican land grant

Ranchos of California

The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...

 in present day Los Angeles County, California

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...

 given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico

Pío Pico

Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...

 to Manuel Antonio. The name means "Large Pasture". The grant encompasssed present day Rosemead

Rosemead, California

Rosemead is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 53,764. Rosemead is part of a cluster of cities, along with Arcadia, Temple City, Monterey Park, San Marino, and San Gabriel, in the west San Gabriel Valley with a growing Asian...

 and South El Monte

South El Monte, California

South El Monte is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,116, down from 21,144 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

.

History

Manuel Antonio, an Indian, who was a mayordomo at the Mission San Gabriel

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel

The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish...

 was granted the one square league Rancho Potrero Grande - former Mission San Gabriel grazing land.

Juan Matias Sanchez bought Rancho Potrero Grande adjacent to his Rancho La Merced

Rancho La Merced

Rancho La Merced was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Casilda Soto de Lobo. The name means "Mercy of God". The northwest section of Montebello and the southeastern part of Monterey Park now occupy the area of...

 property from Antonio.

With the cession

Mexican Cession

The Mexican Cession of 1848 is a historical name in the United States for the region of the present day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S...

 of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...

 provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Potrero Grande was filed with the Public Land Commission

Public Land Commission

The Public Land Commission, a former agency of the United States government, was created following the admission of California as a state in 1850 . The Commission's purpose was to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.California Senator William M...

 in 1852, and the grant was patented

Land patent

A land patent is a land grant made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document and openly publish the same to the public for all to see...

 to Juan M. Sanchez in 1859.

In 1876 the Temple and Workman Bank failed, and Sanchez, who to help his friend William Workman

Workman-Temple family

The Workman-Temple family relates to the pioneer interconnected Workman and Temple families that were prominent in: the history of colonial Pueblo de Los Angeles and American Los Angeles; the Los Angeles Basin and San Gabriel Valley regions; and Southern California — from 1830 to 1930 in Mexican...

, had mortgaged Rancho Potrero Grande to Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin

Lucky Baldwin

Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin was a prominent California businessman and investor of the second half of the 19th century.-Biography:...

, lost it when Baldwin foreclosed

Foreclosure

Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...

. Distraught and broke, William Workman shot himself in 1876. Temple

Francisco P. Temple

Francisco P. Temple served on the first Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1852.-Biography:...

suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, and died penniless in 1880. Juan Matias Sanchez died in poverty in 1885.