Bixby land companies facts for kids

The Bixby land companies were a group of businesses in California. They were started by members of the Bixby and Flint families, who came from Maine. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, companies like Flint, Bixby & Company and the Bixby Land Company owned huge amounts of land in California.

Much of this land came from old Mexican land grants. These were large areas of land given out by the Mexican government before California became part of the United States. The Bixby companies owned famous ranches such as Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos. They also owned parts of Rancho San Justo and Rancho Palos Verdes. Their land was spread across San Benito, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles counties.

Many well-known towns today grew on land once owned by the Bixby families. These include Long Beach, Bellflower, Paramount, Signal Hill, Lakewood, and Los Alamitos.

How the Land Companies Started

The story of these land companies began in 1851. Three cousins, Benjamin Flint, Thomas Flint, and Llewellyn Bixby, left Maine for California. They were hoping to find gold during the California Gold Rush.

From Gold Mining to Ranching

Instead of mining, the cousins decided to try ranching. In 1852 and 1853, they drove over 2,000 sheep all the way from Ohio to California. This was the first step in their very successful ranching business. Llewellyn's brother, Jotham Bixby, joined them. Together, they formed a company called Flint, Bixby & Company.

Buying Big Ranches

In 1855, Flint, Bixby & Company bought a huge ranch called Rancho San Justo. It was about 34,000 acres, located near what is now Hollister. They bought it with another rancher named William Welles Hollister.

A few years later, in 1858, the company bought the Hero-Huero Ranch near Paso Robles. By 1859, they were raising about 20,000 sheep on their ranches. The partnership with Hollister ended in 1861. Flint, Bixby & Company ended up owning all the Rancho San Justo land east of the San Benito River.

Growth During the Civil War

The business grew a lot during the American Civil War. There was a high demand for meat and wool. In 1864, Flint, Bixby & Company started buying land in Southern California. They bought Rancho San Joaquin, Rancho Lomas de Santiago, and part of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. These three large areas were next to each other and totaled over 100,000 acres. They had a secret partner named James Irvine. In the 1870s, Flint, Bixby & Company sold these properties to Irvine.

Jotham Bixby and Rancho Los Cerritos

In 1866, Flint, Bixby & Company bought another large property, the 27,000-acre Rancho Los Cerritos. Jotham Bixby became the manager of this ranch. Later, he bought half of it through his own company, J. Bixby & Company.

By the 1870s, sheep ranching was becoming less profitable in Southern California. So, Jotham Bixby began to sell off parts of Rancho Los Cerritos for new towns and developments.

John William Bixby and Rancho Los Alamitos

In the 1870s, another cousin, John William Bixby, bought some land from Rancho Canon de Santa Ana. He also started renting part of Rancho Los Alamitos. Between 1881 and 1883, John bought Rancho Los Alamitos. He had two partners: J. Bixby & Company and Isaias W. Hellman. Hellman was a famous banker who started the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles.

These three partners formed a new company called J. W. Bixby & Company. John managed the 29,000-acre ranch and lived there with his family.

New Companies and Land Divisions

John William Bixby sadly died suddenly in 1887. Because of his death, Rancho Los Alamitos was divided into three parts in 1891.

• J. Bixby & Company received the land next to Rancho Los Cerritos. This land later became the first properties of a new company, the Bixby Land Company, founded in 1896. Part of this land was a sugar beet farm. It was later developed into the city of Los Alamitos.
• The banker Hellman received a section in the southeast. This area later became a housing development.
• John's family kept the rest of the ranch.

Before John died, he and his partners were already planning to end their partnership. A new family company, the Alamitos Land Company, was formed. Their goal was to develop a part of the ranch that was next to the city of Long Beach. The Alamitos Land Company eventually developed the area that includes Signal Hill. This company still exists today and is mostly owned by the Bixby and Hellman families.