Rancho Cucamonga was a

Mexican land grant In Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California, ranchos were concessions and land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an indu ...

in present-day

San Bernardino County, California San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is locat ...

, given in 1839 to the dedicated soldier, smuggler and politician Tiburcio Tapia by Mexican governor

Juan Bautista Alvarado Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) usually known as Juan Bautista Alvarado, was a Californio politician that served as governor of Alta California from 1837 to 1842. Prior to his term as governor, Al ...

. The grant formed parts of present-day California cities

Rancho Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in present-day San Bernardino County, California, given in 1839 to the dedicated soldier, smuggler and politician Tiburcio Tapia by Mexican governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. The gra ...

and

Upland Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...

. It extended easterly from San Antonio Creek to what is now Hermosa Avenue, and from today's Eighth Street to the mountains. (see city boundaries vs. 8th/Hermosa north to mountains and west to San Antonio Creek)

History

The

Mission San Gabriel Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality *Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * O ...

established the Rancho Cucamonga as a site for grazing their cattle. In 1839, the rancho was granted by the Mexican governor of California to Tiburcio Tapia, a wealthy Los Angeles merchant. Tapia transferred his cattle to Cucamonga and built a fort-like adobe house on Red Hill. The Rancho was inherited by Tapia's daughter, Maria Merced Tapia de Prudhomme, and her husband Leon Victor Prudhomme. 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 Cucamonga 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 the grant was patented to Leon V. Prudhomme in 1872. Rancho Cucamonga was sold in 1858 to John Rains. Rains in 1856 married Maria Merced Williams, the daughter of

Rancho Santa Ana del Chino Rancho Santa Ana del Chino was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in the Chino Hills and southwestern Pomona Valley, in present-day San Bernardino County, California. It was granted to Antonio Maria Lugo in 1841 by Mexican Alta Californ ...

owner Isaac Williams and granddaughter of

Antonio Maria Lugo The Lugo family of California were prominent during the periods of Spanish and Mexican rule. They were among the early colonists who became known as ''Californios''. Francisco Salvador Lugo Francisco Salvador Lugo (1740–1805), born in Sinaloa, ...

, owner of

Rancho San Bernardino Rancho San Bernardino was a Mexican land grant in present-day San Bernardino County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to José del Carmen Lugo, José María Lugo, Vicente Lugo, and Diego Sepulveda. The grant included a l ...

. Maria was thus a wealthy heiress, and Rains invested in three ranchos and the

Bella Union Hotel The Bella Union Hotel in Los Angeles, California, constructed in 1835, is California Historical Landmark No. 656. It was effectively the last capitol building of Mexican California under Governor Pio Pico, in 1845–47, and was a center of soci ...

in Los Angeles. John Rains was murdered on November 17, 1862. Three men including Tomas Procopio Bustamante were accused but only Manuel Ceredel was caught. Ceredel claimed he, Precopio and four others were paid $500 by Ramon Carrillo, another ranchero and political opponent, to kill Rains. Ceradel was convicted of attempting to murder the sheriff's deputy who arrested him and was sentenced to 10 years in San Quentin. As the sheriff took Ceredel on a boat to San Francisco, a group of vigilantes lynched Ceredel. Carrillo was examined in court twice and was released, no evidence having been found against him. Ramon Carrillo always maintained his innocence of the crime, but he was shot in the back from ambush and killed on the Los Angeles road west of Cucamonga on May 21, 1864, in another unsolved murder. Maria Merced married José Carrillo in 1864. She had nine children in all: five with Rains, and four with Carrillo. Isaias W. Hellman, a Los Angeles banker, and a San Francisco business syndicate acquired the Rancho Cucamonga at a sheriff's sale in 1871. Hellman and his partners, which included former Governor John Downey, subdivided the land. Hellman continued to make port and sweet Angelica wine from Cucamonga's fabled vineyard. Tapia had first planted grapes in 1839 and Rains had increased the vineyard to in 1859. In 1882,

George Chaffey George Chaffey (28 January 1848 – 1 March 1932) was a Canadian engineer, inventor and entrepreneur who with his brother William developed large parts of Southern California, including what became the community of Etiwanda and the cities of Ont ...

, a Canadian from the province of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, purchased of the Rancho Cucamonga land for $90,000. Chaffey established an irrigation colony which he named Ontario, after his homeland of Ontario, Canada. The Ontario colony later became the city of

, incorporated in 1891. The northern part of Chaffey's Ontario colony became the city of

, incorporated in 1906. In 1977 three unincorporated communities which had emerged on the old ranch lands— Alta Loma, Cucamonga and Etiwanda—became the city of Rancho Cucamonga.

Historic sites

Chinatown House The Chinatown House is an historic building in Rancho Cucamonga, California. It is one of the last surviving examples of historic Chinese worker housing in the region. Built in 1919, the two-story brick building once housed 50 Chinese Americ ...

John Rains House The Casa de Rancho Cucamonga, commonly known as the John Rains House, is a historic house located at 8810 Hemlock St. in Rancho Cucamonga, California. (search for "8810 Hemlock St") The house was built in 1860–1861 after John Rains purchased ...

(

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

#73-428) *

Tapia Adobe Tapia Adobe was the home of Tiburcio Tapia (1789–1845). Tiburcio Tapia was a Mexican soldier, politician, then became a merchant, winery owner and ranch owner, in what is now Cucamonga, California. The place of Tapia Adobe (home) was designat ...

(

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

#360) * Rancho Cucamonga Marker is at the

Cucamonga Winery Cucamonga Winery is an American winery originally located in Cucamonga, California. It was started by brothers Alfred and Eduardo Accomazzo in 1933. The winery is connected with the city's founding. A California Historical Landmark marker was p ...

(California Historical Landmark #490)

Markers

Marker at Cucamonga Winery site reads: :Established by Tiburcio Tapia, to whom the Cucamonga Rancho was granted March 3, 1839, by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado of Mexico.

References

{{American wine

Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga ( ) is a city located just south of the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest in San Bernardino County, California, United States. About east of Downtown Los Angeles, Rancho Cucamonga is the 28th ...

Geography of Rancho Cucamonga, California California Historical Landmarks

History

Historic sites

Markers

See also

References