Rancho San Antonio (Peralta)

Rancho San Antonio (Peralta Grant)
Rancho San Antonio (Peralta Grant)
	Location within the East Bay
Location	Northern portion of Alameda County, California
Coordinates	37°43′50.64″N 122°9′41.4″W / 37.7307333°N 122.161500°W
Built	1820
California Historical Landmark
Designated	1936
Reference no.	246

Rancho San Antonio, also known as the Peralta Grant, was a 44,800-acre (181 km²)

Pueblo of San José, in recognition of his forty years of service. The grant, issued on August 3, 1820, embraced the sites of the cities of San Leandro, Oakland, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, Berkeley, and Albany.^[1]

History

Luís María Peralta never lived on the rancho himself, but his four sons and their families did. With their wives, families, landless Spanish-Mexican laborers (from New Spain), their families, and some native peoples, the Peralta sons established the first Spanish-speaking communities in the East Bay. As the rancho prospered, the Peralta brothers built newer and bigger houses. The main hacienda contained two adobes, and some twenty guest houses, and became an established stop for travelers along what was during the Spanish era the only camino real

on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay.

The hacienda became the social and commercial center of this vast rancho. Annual

St. Mary's College High School. Son Vicente's home was located in what is today the heart of Oakland's Temescal

district.

In 1842, Luís María Peralta decided to split the rancho among his sons. His five daughters received his cattle and his San Jose adobe (the Peralta Adobe) and land. He died in 1851, but not before telling his sons to steer clear of the California gold rush, stating, "The land is our gold." However, it would not be easy for the Peraltas to hold on to their property.

Although the United States government promised all rights of citizenship and property ownership to the

California Supreme Court

in 1859.

By 1860, the brothers' land holdings had been substantially reduced, partly to pay for the previous decade's litigation and to cover newly imposed property taxes. Among the lawyers representing them were Horace Carpentier who acquired large chunks of the Peralta lands as compensation for his services. After the 1868 Hayward earthquake destroyed many of the rancho's buildings, Antonio (the third son), built what is now known as the Peralta Hacienda, an Italianate Victorian two-story frame house in 1870, located in what is today the Fruitvale district of Oakland.

In 1872, the combined property of the sons of Luís María Peralta was assessed at approximately $200,000 (their father's estate had been valued at $1,383,500 at the time of his death, equivalent to $38 million in 2023). By the time of Antonio Peralta's death in 1879, he only had 23 acres (93,000 m²) left of the original 16,067 acres (65.02 km²) his father gave him.

In the end, the 1870 house and the remnants of Antonio's share of the land grant were sold by his daughter Inez Galindo in 1897 to developer Henry Z. Jones who laid out streets and parcels and moved the 1870 house to its present location. That house and a brick house (the Peralta Home built by the eldest son Ignacio in 1860) are the only two remaining structures out of the entire complex. The 1870 House now sits in Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland and is open for tours.^[2]

Historic designations

Rancho San Antonio,^[1] California Historical Landmark #246 (the commemorative plaque can be found in San Leandro).
Joaquin Miller House
- National Historic Landmark
- National Register of Historic Places, NPS-66000204.
- California Historical Landmark #107
- Oakland Designated Landmark
  #5
Antonio Maria Peralta House
- National Register of Historic Places 77000285
- California Historical Landmark #925^[3]
- Oakland Designated Landmark
  #10
Camino of Rancho San Antonio, California Historical Landmark #299:^[4] The road ran from Mission San José to Fruitvale and later to San Pablo by way of Oakland and El Cerrito.
Tower to John C. Frémont, Oakland Designated Landmark #4

References

Sources

The Peraltas and Their Houses, by Jacob N. Bowman, published by the Alameda County Historical Society (2001)

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c "Rancho San Antonio". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
^ Peralta Hacienda Historical Park website
^ "Peralta Hacienda Site". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
^ "Camino Of Rancho San Antonio". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-03-20.

External links

Peralta Hacienda Historical Park - Museum of History and Community
Peralta Land Claim Confirmation, US District Court, 1852
"Rancho San Antonio - California Historical Landmark no. 246". library.ucsd.edu. 1936–1940.

[CHL-1] "Rancho San Antonio". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-06.

[2] Peralta Hacienda Historical Park website

[3] "Peralta Hacienda Site". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-03-20.

[4] "Camino Of Rancho San Antonio". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-03-20.

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