Rancho Los Alamitos takes its name from an 1834 Mexican partition of the 1784 Rancho Los Nietos, a Spanish concession, covering an area in present-day

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 ...

's southwestern

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 northwestern Orange County. Los Alamitos means the Little Cottonwoods or Poplars in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, after the

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

Fremont Cottonwood trees there. Rancho Los Alamitos originally included much of the area of present-day eastern

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 ...

, all of Los Alamitos and Rossmoor, and most of Seal Beach,

Cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

, Stanton and Garden Grove. 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 Rancho Los Alamitos is almost a microcosm for the history of expansion throughout

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, 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 A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

between the mouths of the ever-shifting

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, San Gabriel and

Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino and Riversid ...

s, the

coastal plain A coastal plain (also coastal plains, coastal lowland, coastal lowlands) is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and an upland area. Formation Coastal plains can f ...

terrain of the rancho is virtually flat rich soil, and was subject to frequent flooding. The rancho building itself is located near

Puvunga Puvunga (alternatively spelled Puvungna or Povuu'nga) is an ancient village and sacred site of the Tongva nation, the Indigenous people of the Los Angeles Basin, and the Acjachemen, the Indigenous people of Orange County. The site is now locate ...

springs 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 Pedro Fages (1734–1794) was a Spanish soldier, explorer, and first lieutenant governor of the province of the Californias under Gaspar de Portolá. Fages claimed the governorship after Portolá's departure, acting as governor in opposition ...

, coincidentally his former commander. Nieto's grant was not only one of the first three awarded by the Spanish in

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

, 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 Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

native who typified the many

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, the Northeastern United Stat ...

s who settled in California and merged with the ruling Mexican

Californio Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...

s population. Stearns, who married Arcadia Bandini, the daughter of the early Spanish regional civic and business leader

Juan Bandini Juan Bandini (1800 – November 4, 1859) was a Peruvian-born Californio public figure, politician, and ranchero. He is best known for his role in the development of San Diego in the mid-19th century. Early history Bandini was born in 1800 in Lima ...

, became one of the leading merchants and major ranchos owners in Mexican

. The rancho was on the periphery of the battles that settled the California Campaign of 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, ...

by 1846. During the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

, the rancho supplied much of the beef that would be herded north to feed the growing number of

Immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

s who were flocking to the gold fields of Northern California from 1848 on. After California became a

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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.

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 Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

, 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 Alamitos 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 A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

to Abel Stearns Aug. 29, 1874, for 28,027.17 acres. Huntington Solano-Reeve 1858 Rancho Los Alamitos survey map

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 William 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 due to an

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...

attack, and Rancho Los Alamitos was separated between three major parties. The developed Alamitos Beach properties were shared equally, while John Bixby's heirs kept the central section of the remaining rancho, the Bixby cousins from Rancho Los Cerritos assumed control of the northern section, 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 A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

production on properties they held in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. In the 1890s, Jotham Bixby arranged to provide land on the rancho for sugar beet production and recruited the capital of

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Misso ...

, who was amongst the richest men in the United States, to build a sugar beet refinery plant on a portion of the Bixby Ranch property. Later oil discoveries from the

Long Beach Oil Field The Long Beach Oil Field is a large oil field underneath the cities of Long Beach, California, Long Beach and Signal Hill, California, Signal Hill, California, in the United States. Discovered in 1921, the field was enormously productive in the 19 ...

continued to fund 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 The Bixby family is an American family that was heavily involved in the development of California ranches and real estate in the 19th and 20th centuries. Through various companies, they controlled at one time or another large swathes of California ...

descendants donated the property to the City of Long Beach in 1967.

Historic sites of the Rancho

The early 19th century

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

ranch house still stands today, surrounded by its historic gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Florence Yoch & Lucile Council, all of which are on the

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 ...

. 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.

References

External links

Official Rancho Los Alamitos: Historic Ranch and Gardens websiteRancho Los Alamitos: Historical and Architectural Narrative. ''(33pg. pdf)''
* ttps://archive.today/20121205054130/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/ca/ National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary: Early History of the California Coastbr>Rancho Los Alamitos: History Timeline of Ownership & Occupants
{{Authority control Los Alamitos Gardens in California Houses in Los Angeles County, California Historic house museums in California Museums in Long Beach, California Open-air museums in California Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California Ranches on the National Register of Historic Places in California Garden Grove, California Los Alamitos, California Long Beach, California Paramount, California History of Long Beach, California History of Orange County, California Landscape design history of the United States Landmarks in Long Beach, California Los Alamitos Ranchos of Los Angeles County, California

History

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References

External links