Rancho Ulistac 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

Santa Clara County, California Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...

, given in 1845 by Governor

Pío Pico Don (honorific), Don Pío de Jesús Pico IV (May 5, 1801 – September 11, 1894) was a California politician, ranchero, and entrepreneur, famous for serving as the List of governors of California before 1850, last governor of Alta California und ...

to Marcello and Cristobal, Indians. The grant extended across lowlands reaching from the

Alviso Alviso is a district of San Jose, California, located in North San Jose on the southern shores of San Francisco Bay. Originally an independent town, founded in 1852, today Alviso is San Jose's only waterfront district, primarily residential in n ...

shoreline southward and encompassing the land between the Guadalupe River and

Saratoga Creek Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California, that flows to the Guadalupe Slough and south San Francisco Bay. History Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after imm ...

, and the town of Agnew.

History

In 1846, Governor Pico granted one-half square league to Santa Clara Mission Indian Marcello and his nephews Pio and Cristobal.

Jacob David Hoppe Jacob David Hoppe (c. 1813 — 1853) was a 19th-century Californian newspaperman and politician. Jacob Hoppe was born in Maryland and came to California in 1846. He established a newspaper, which later became ''The Daily Alta California''. He ...

(1813–1853), was born in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and came to California in 1846. He established a newspaper, which later became the "Alta California". He was elected a delegate to the

1849 California Constitutional Convention The California Constitutional Conventions were two separate constitutional conventions that took place in California during the nineteenth century which led to the creation of the modern Constitution of California. The first, known as the 1849 ...

. After the discovery of gold, he went to the mines, where he remained a few months with some profit, and returned to San Jose, where he became the first American Postmaster. Hoppe acquired Rancho Ulistac from the original Indian grantees. Hoppe was killed in the explosion of the SS ''Jenny Lind'' en route from Alviso to San Francisco on April 11, 1853. 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 Ulistac 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 heirs of Jacob D. Hoppe in 1868. The Hoppe heirs sold the land in 1860. In 1885, of Rancho Ulistac were developed as a site of the

Agnews Developmental Center Agnews Developmental Center were two psychiatric and medical care facilities, located in Santa Clara, California and San Jose, California respectively. History In 1885, the center, originally known as "The Great Asylum for the Insane", was estab ...

. The hospital was destroyed in the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

, leaving 125 dead, but was quickly rebuilt. The name "Ulistac" derives from the language of the

Ohlone people The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited ...

who once inhabited the area. ''Uli'' is believed to be the name of an Ohlone chief, and the suffix ''-tac'' means "place", so that "Ulistac" likely meant "Uli's place". However, other sources define it to mean "at Ulis". In 1916, linguist A. L. Kroeber wrote that, while ''-tac'' is a Tamyen suffix meaning "place of", the rest of the name is unidentifiable.

Historic sites of the Rancho

* James Lick Mansion – a large house built by

James Lick James Lick (August 25, 1796 – October 1, 1876) was an American real estate investor, carpenter, piano builder, land baron, and patron of the sciences. The wealthiest man in California at the time of his death, Lick left the majority of his es ...

around 1858

Ulistac Natural Area

The Ulistac Natural Area is a 40-acre volunteer-maintained natural area within the original rancho, between Lick Mill Blvd. and the Guadalupe River, showcasing seven distinctive natural habitats.

References

{{California history Ulis Ulis