Rancho Dos Pueblos facts for kids

Rancho Dos Pueblos was a huge piece of land, about 15,535 acres (or 62.87 square kilometers), in what is now Santa Barbara County, California. It was given as a Mexican land grant in 1842 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to Nicolas A. Den. The rancho stretched along the Pacific coast, northwest of the city of Santa Barbara. It went from Fairview Avenue in Goleta all the way to the edge of El Capitán State Beach.

A smaller part of this land, about 500 acres, was bought by Colin Powys Campbell in 1919. Today, this same piece of land belongs to the University of California, Santa Barbara. They bought it in 2007 from the Devereux Foundation, which had a campus there since 1945.

History of Rancho Dos Pueblos

Early Explorers and Native People

The very first Europeans to visit the California coast were Spanish explorers led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. They spent several days near the Channel Islands. It's very likely that some of Cabrillo's crew landed at Dos Pueblos Creek to get fresh water. If they did, they would have met the Chumash people. The Chumash lived in two towns, one on each side of the creek.

Later, in 1769, a land expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá camped at Dos Pueblos Creek. This was on August 21-22, as they traveled north to Monterey Bay. A Franciscan missionary named Juan Crespi was with the group. He saw the two native towns, facing each other across the creek from the bluffs near the ocean. Because of this, he named the place "Dos Pueblos de San Luis Obispo." "Dos Pueblos" means "Two Towns" in Spanish. The "San Luis Obispo" part was later used for a mission farther north, but the name Dos Pueblos stayed for the land.

Portolá passed by Dos Pueblos again the next year. Then, two more expeditions led by Juan Bautista de Anza came through in 1775 and 1776. The Presidio of Santa Barbara (a Spanish fort) was built in 1782. Mission Santa Barbara was established in 1786. The path past Dos Pueblos became part of El Camino Real. This was a road connecting all the Spanish Missions.

The Den Family and the Rancho Grant

Rancho Dos Pueblos was officially granted by Governor Alvarado to Nicholas A. Den in 1842. Nicholas Den (1812 - 1862) was an Irish immigrant. He came to Alta California (which was then part of Mexico) by sea in 1836. Den had studied to be a doctor in Dublin, Ireland. He became the first medical doctor in the Santa Barbara area.

Nicholas Den married Rosa Hill. Rosa was the daughter of Daniel A. Hill, who was the first American to live in Santa Barbara. Rosa was also a great-granddaughter of José Francisco Ortega. Ortega was given the land for Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio, which was a bit further northwest along the coast. Daniel Hill's own land, Rancho La Goleta, was right next to Dos Pueblos on the southeast side, closer to Santa Barbara.

Nicholas Den passed away in 1862. He left behind ten children. In his will, Den gave the western half of the original Rancho Dos Pueblos to his wife, Rosa Den. The other half was put into a special fund. It was to be divided equally among their ten children when they grew up.

California Becomes Part of the U.S.

After the Mexican-American War, California became part of the United States. This was agreed upon in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty said that the land grants given by Mexico would still be honored. So, in 1852, a claim for Dos Pueblos was filed with the Public Land Commission. This was required by a new law called the Land Act of 1851. The land grant was officially given to Nicolas A. Den in 1877.

Changes and Lawsuits

In 1869, Rosa Den sold the eastern part of the rancho, about 3,600 acres (14.57 square kilometers), to Colonel W.W. Hollister (1818 - 1886). Hollister named this part Rancho Glen Annie, after his wife, Annie James Hollister.

However, there was a problem. Some of Nicolas A. Den's children were still minors (under 18) when the land was sold. This meant the sale might not have been legal. Alfonso Den, one of Nicolas's descendants, inherited land that is now called Isla Vista. He and some of his nine brothers and sisters sued Hollister. They said their land had been sold illegally in 1869 when they were children.

A lawyer from San Francisco, Thomas B. Bishop, helped the Den children. He was an expert in Mexican land rights. Bishop sued Hollister in 1876, and they won the case in 1890. As payment for his legal work, Bishop received a lot of the land that belonged to the Den children. This land is now called Bishop Ranch, and it's near Glen Annie Road in Goleta.