Rancho Santa Rita
Rancho Santa Rita was a 8,894-acre (35.99 km2) Mexican land grant in the Amador Valley and western Livermore Valley, which is in present day Alameda County, California.
It was given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Jose Dolores Pacheco.[1]
The rancho included present day
History
Rancho Santa Rita was granted in 1839 to
With the
In 1853, Rancho Santa Rita was sold to Augustin Alviso, grantee of Rancho Potrero de los Cerritos, by the heirs of Jose Delores Pacheco, Juana Pacheco and Salvio Pacheco.[9] In 1854, Samuel B. Martin and West J. Martin purchased Rancho Santa Rita. They sold the ranch in 1865, and moved to Oakland.[10]
In 1865 William M. Mendenhall came to the valley, and in 1868 purchased 650 acres (2.6 km2) of the Rancho Santa Rita grant. During the period of the railroad boom in the late 1860s, Rancho Santa Rita was sub divided into fifteen farms. The farms were "small" tracts of about 300 acres (1.2 km2) to 3,750 acres (15.2 km2). The larger land owners consisted of J.W. Dougherty, 750 acres (3.0 km2); Abdijah Baker, 2,078 acres (8.4 km2); and William Knox, 360 acres (1.5 km2).
In 1869 J.W. Kottinger and J.A. Neal each laid out and plotted a subdivision for a new town called Alisal, situated about five miles south of Dublin. By 1878 the village was an unincorporated town of about 500 people, later renamed Pleasanton. Like Livermore, Pleasanton attained its size and importance with coming of the Union Pacific Railroad.
In the early 1880s, Count Valensin purchased 140 acres (0.6 km2), Maas Suders purchased a strip of land from the Mendenhall's 650 acres (2.6 km2), and Samuel Hewlett purchased 1,600 acres (6.5 km2). In 1894 the remainder of Rancho Santa Rita was offered for sale by Lagrance and Company of Oakland.
In 1921 what was left of the Mexican grant was sold to Asa Mendenhall.[11][12]
Historic sites of the Rancho
- Pacheco Adobe — the first adobe, built in 1844 by José Dolores Pacheco, is no longer standing. Its site is 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to the north of the Alviso Adobe.
- Francisco Alviso Adobe — built in 1854 by Francisco Alviso, the son of Pacheco's mayordomo (ranch manager), Francisco Solano Alviso. It is located within Alviso Adobe Community Park present day Pleasanton.[13]
- Alviso Adobe Community Park
See also
- Ranchos of Alameda County, California
- List of California Ranchos
References
- ^ Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco
- ^ Diseño del Rancho Santa Rita
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rancho Santa Rita
- ISBN 978-0-520-94887-7.
- ^ United States. District Court (California : Northern District) Land Case 155 ND
- ^ Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892
- ^ "Report of the Surveyor General 1884 - 1886" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-18. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
- ^ Yontz v. United States, 64 U.S. 23 How. 495 495 (1859)
- ISBN 978-0-7385-4761-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-4482-9.
- ^ Rancho Santa Rita (from material by Don Morton from "Historical Sites & Landmarks of Alamenda County, California", edited by George Tays. 1952)[permanent dead link]
- ISBN 978-0-7385-4761-9
- ^ Francisco Solano Alviso Adobe
External links
- Diseño del Rancho Santa Rita : Alameda County, Calif. at The Bancroft Library
Alviso Adobe.