Rancho Los Cerritos was a 1834

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

in present-day southern

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

and Orange County,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

The grant was the result of a partition of the

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. After an appea ...

grant. "Cerritos" means "little hills" in Spanish. The rancho lands include the present-day cities of Cerritos,

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

, Bellflower and

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

History

At the request of Manuel Nieto heirs, governor

José Figueroa José María Figueroa (1792 – 29 September 1835) was a Californio politician and military leader. He was a General and the Mexican Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835. His ''Manifesto'' (1835) was the first book published in Calif ...

in 1834, officially declared the

grant under

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

rule and ordered its partition into five smaller ranchos: Las Bolsas, Los Alamitos, Los Cerritos, Los Coyotes, and

Santa Gertrudes Santa Gertrudes is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 27,381 (2020 est.) in an area of 98.3 km². The elevation is 595 m. History The municipality was created by state law in 1948. Media In telecommunication ...

. Manuela Nieto (daughter of Manuel Nieto) and her husband Guillermo Cota received Los Cerritos.

Jonathan Temple Don Juan Temple (né Jonathan Temple; August 14, 1796 – May 31, 1866) was a Californian ranchero and merchant. Born in Massachusetts, he emigrated to Alta California in 1827, becoming a Mexican citizen, adopting the Spanish language and a ...

married Rafaela Cota in 1830, and in 1843, he purchased Rancho Los Cerritos from the Cota family. With the

cession The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdicti ...

of California to the United States following the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, the 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...

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

Public Land Commission The California Land Act of 1851 (), enacted following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the admission of California as a state in 1850, established the California State Lands Commission to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican l ...

in 1852 and Temple received the US patent for the rancho in 1867.Report of the Surveyor General 1844–1886
Following the drought of 1863–64, Temple sold the rancho to Flint, Bixby & Company in 1866.

Historic sites of the Rancho

* Rancho Los Cerritos Ranch House. Adobe hacienda built by Jonathan Temple in 1844.

References

{{Coord , 33.830, -118.170, region:US-CA, display=title Los Cerritos History of Long Beach, California Cerritos, California Paramount, California Los Cerr Ranchos of Los Angeles County, California

History

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References