Rancho Los Nietos
Encyclopedia
Rancho Los Nietos was one of the first, and the largest, Spanish land concession
in Alta California
. Located in present day Los Angeles County
and Orange County
, California
. Rancho Los Nietos was awarded to Manuel Nieto
in 1784. The rancho remained intact until 1834, when Governor Jose Figueroa
officially declared the Rancho Los Nietos grant under Mexican
rule and ordered its partition into six smaller ranchos.
Today, all parts of the following places are located on what was once Rancho Los Nietos:
granted to Manuel Nieto, a former sergeant in the Spanish army, provisional use of all land between the Santa Ana River
and the Los Angeles River
from the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
to the sea.
The original grant was 300000 acres (1,214.1 km²), but the San Gabriel Mission contested the Los Nietos grant on the grounds that it encroached upon the southern portion of its property. A decision in favor of the mission was reached and Rancho Los Nietos was reduced to nearly half of its original size, but still leaving Corporal Nieto with 167000 acres (675.8 km²). At first it was called La Zanja, but later it was known simply as Rancho Los Nietos.
Upon Manuel Nieto's death in 1804, Rancho Los Nietos passed to his wife and four children.
for a partition and distribution of the land. In 1834, governor Figueroa officially declared the Los Nietos grant under Mexican rule and ordered its partition into six smaller ranchos.
Rancho Palo Alto was the smallest of the six ranchos. It is unknown exactly where or how large was Rancho Palo Alto as it did not appear on the partition map. It included the Coyote Hills and most of the Arroyo de los Coyotes, and may have been combined into Rancho Los Coyotes.
Ranchos of California
The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...
in Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
. Located in present day Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
and Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Rancho Los Nietos was awarded to Manuel Nieto
Manuel Nieto
Jose Manuel Nieto was a soldier from the Presidio of San Diego who was assigned to the Mission San Gabriel at the time his land was granted by the Spanish Empire in 1784.-Spanish soldier:...
in 1784. The rancho remained intact until 1834, when Governor Jose Figueroa
José Figueroa
General José Figueroa , was a General and the Mexican territorial Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835.Figueroa oversaw the initial secularization of the missions of upper California, which included the expulsion of the Spanish Franciscan mission officials.This also involved the issuing of...
officially declared the Rancho Los Nietos grant under Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
rule and ordered its partition into six smaller ranchos.
Today, all parts of the following places are located on what was once Rancho Los Nietos:
- AnaheimAnaheim, CaliforniaAnaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
- ArtesiaArtesia, CaliforniaArtesia is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California. Artesia was incorporated on May 29, 1959 and is one of Los Angeles County's Gateway Cities. The city has a 2010 census population of 16,522...
- Buena ParkBuena Park, CaliforniaBuena Park is a city in northwestern Orange County, California. As of Census 2010 the population was 80,530. The city is adjacent to the city of Anaheim and is 12 miles northwest of downtown Santa Ana. The Current OMB metropolitan designation for Buena Park and the Orange County Area is "Santa...
- Bolsa Chica State BeachBolsa Chica State BeachBolsa Chica State Beach is a beach in the state park system of California, USA. It is located in the Huntington Beach community of Sunset Beach in Orange County....
—Bolsa Chica Reserve - CerritosCerritos, CaliforniaCerritos is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was incorporated on April 24, 1956...
- DowneyDowney, CaliforniaDowney is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city is best known as the birthplace of the Apollo space program, and is the city where folk singer Karen Carpenter lived and died...
- FullertonFullerton, CaliforniaFullerton is a city located in northern Orange County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 135,161.It was founded in 1887 by George and Edward Amerige and named for George H. Fullerton, who secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway...
- Garden GroveGarden Grove, CaliforniaGarden Grove is a city located in northern Orange County, California. The population was 170,883 at the 2010 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city running east-west. The city is known outside the Southern California area for being the home of Robert H...
- Huntington BeachHuntington Beach, CaliforniaHuntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population...
- LakewoodLakewood, CaliforniaLakewood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 80,048 at the 2010 census. It is bordered by Long Beach on the west and south, Bellflower on the north, Cerritos on the northeast, Cypress on the east, and Hawaiian Gardens on the southeast. Major thoroughfares...
- Long BeachLong Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
- Los AlamitosLos Alamitos, CaliforniaLos Alamitos is a small city in Orange County, California. The city was incorporated in March 1960. The population was 11,449 at the 2010 census, down from 11,536 at the 2000 census...
- NaplesNaples, Long Beach, CaliforniaNaples is a neighborhood of Long Beach, California, United States, built on a series of islands located in Alamitos Bay. Naples consists of three separate islands, divided by canals which open into the bay. Most of the streets on the island have Italianate names...
- NorwalkNorwalk, CaliforniaNorwalk is a suburban city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 105,549 at the 2010 census, up from 103,298 at the 2000 census, making it the 58th most populous city in California and the 255th nationally....
- Santa Fe SpringsSanta Fe Springs, CaliforniaSanta Fe Springs is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 16,223 at the 2010 census, down from 17,438 at the 2000 census....
- Seal BeachSeal Beach, California-Neighborhoods:Seal Beach encompasses the Leisure World retirement gated community with roughly 9,000 residents. This was the first major planned retirement community of its type in the U.S...
- Sunset BeachSunset Beach, CaliforniaSunset Beach is a beachfront community in Huntington Beach in Orange County, California. In 2011, it was annexed by Huntington Beach and is now part of that city. Prior to, it was a census-designated place, with a population of 971 at the 2010 census....
- WhittierWhittier, CaliforniaWhittier is a city in Los Angeles County, California about southeast of Los Angeles. The city had a population of 85,331 at the 2010 census, up from 83,680 as of the 2000 census, and encompasses 14.7 square miles . Like nearby Montebello, the city constitutes part of the Gateway Cities...
Spanish grant
In 1784, Spanish governor Pedro FagesPedro Fages
Pere Fages Beleta , nicknamed L'Ós , was a soldier, explorer, and the second Spanish military Governor of Las Californias Province of New Spain from 1770 to 1774, and the Governor of Las Californias from 1782 to 1791.-Life:...
granted to Manuel Nieto, a former sergeant in the Spanish army, provisional use of all land between the Santa Ana River
Santa Ana River
The Santa Ana River is the largest river of Southern California in the United States. Its drainage basin spans four counties. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows past the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, before cutting through the northern tip of the Santa Ana Mountains and...
and the Los Angeles River
Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
from the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish...
to the sea.
The original grant was 300000 acres (1,214.1 km²), but the San Gabriel Mission contested the Los Nietos grant on the grounds that it encroached upon the southern portion of its property. A decision in favor of the mission was reached and Rancho Los Nietos was reduced to nearly half of its original size, but still leaving Corporal Nieto with 167000 acres (675.8 km²). At first it was called La Zanja, but later it was known simply as Rancho Los Nietos.
Upon Manuel Nieto's death in 1804, Rancho Los Nietos passed to his wife and four children.
Mexican declaration and partition
The rancho remained intact until 1833, when the Nieto heirs petitioned Mexican Governor José FigueroaJosé Figueroa
General José Figueroa , was a General and the Mexican territorial Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835.Figueroa oversaw the initial secularization of the missions of upper California, which included the expulsion of the Spanish Franciscan mission officials.This also involved the issuing of...
for a partition and distribution of the land. In 1834, governor Figueroa officially declared the Los Nietos grant under Mexican rule and ordered its partition into six smaller ranchos.
| 1834 Partition of Rancho Los Nietos | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Size | Disposition |
| Los Alamitos Rancho Los Alamitos Rancho Los Alamitos takes its name from a Mexican land grant in southwestern Los Angeles County and northwestern Orange County, California. Los Alamitos means the Little Cottonwoods or Poplars in Spanish, after the native Fremont Cottonwood trees there.Rancho Los Alamitos originally included... |
28612 acres (115.8 km²) | Juan Jose Nieto |
| Las Bolsas Rancho Las Bolsas Rancho Las Bolsas was a 1834 Mexican land grant resulting from the partition of Rancho Los Nietos, located from the coast on inland within present day northwestern Orange County, California. The Spanish name "las bolsas" means "the pockets", and refers to pockets of land amongst the marsh ... |
33460 acres (135.4 km²) | Catarina Ruiz (widow of Jose Antonio Nieto) |
| Los Cerritos Rancho Los Cerritos Rancho Los Cerritos was a 1834 land grant in present day eastern Los Angeles County and Orange County, California The grant was the result of a partition of the Rancho Los Nietos grant. "Cerritos" means "little hills" in Spanish... |
27054 acres (109.5 km²) | Manuela Nieto de Cota and her husband Guillermo Cota |
| Los Coyotes Rancho Los Coyotes Rancho Los Coyotes was a 1834 Mexican land grant resulting from the partition of the Rancho Los Nietos grant, in present day southeastern Los Angeles County and northwestern Orange County, California... |
48806 acres (197.5 km²) | Juan Jose Nieto |
| Santa Gertrudes Rancho Santa Gertrudes Rancho Santa Gertrudes was a 1834 Mexican land grant, in present day Los Angeles County, California resulting from a partition of Rancho Los Nietos... |
21298 acres (86.2 km²) | Josefa Cota (widow of Antonio Maria Nieto) |
| Palo Alto | unknown | Juan Jose Nieto |
Rancho Palo Alto was the smallest of the six ranchos. It is unknown exactly where or how large was Rancho Palo Alto as it did not appear on the partition map. It included the Coyote Hills and most of the Arroyo de los Coyotes, and may have been combined into Rancho Los Coyotes.