Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando facts for kids
Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando was a huge piece of land, about 116,858 acres, in what is now Los Angeles County, California. It was given out as a Mexican land grant in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Eulogio F. de Celis. The name "Ex-Mission" means it used to belong to the Mission San Fernando Rey de España. After the mission lands were divided, the church kept the area right around it, and all the other lands were called "ex-Mission" lands. This large grant covered most of the area we now call the San Fernando Valley.
Contents
History of the Rancho
How the Land Was Granted
Eulogio de Celis was a man from Spain who came to California in 1836. He worked in a business that traded animal hides (skins) with other important people like Henry D. Fitch and Abel Stearns. He married Josefa Argüello, whose father, Luis Antonio Argüello, was a governor.
In 1846, during the Mexican–American War, the government needed money to fight. So, Governor Pío Pico's government sold the lands that used to belong to Mission San Fernando to Eulogio de Celis. This is how he got the huge Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando.
Changes After the War
After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, California became part of the United States. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which said that the land grants given by Mexico would still be honored.
The United States government created a special group called the Public Land Commission. In 1852, Eulogio de Celis filed a claim for his land grant with this commission. It took many years, but in 1873, the land grant was officially approved and "patented" to him. This meant he legally owned the land under U.S. law.
Eulogio de Celis and his family went back to Spain in 1854. He passed away there in 1869.
Size and Borders of the Rancho
The Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando was supposed to be about fourteen square leagues (a league is an old measurement of distance). It had clear borders:
- To the north: Rancho San Francisco and the Santa Susana Mountains.
- To the west: The Simi Hills.
- To the east: Rancho Tujunga.
- To the south: The Montañas de Portesuelo, which are now called the Santa Monica Mountains.
When the land was officially surveyed in 1873, it turned out to be almost twenty-six square leagues! This made it the single largest land grant in all of California.
Dividing the Rancho Land
Before Eulogio de Celis officially received the grant, Andrés Pico, who was Governor Pío Pico's brother, had leased (rented) the Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando in 1845.
In 1853, Andrés Pico bought half of the land. So, the huge Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando was split into two parts. The dividing line was along what is now Roscoe Boulevard.
- Andrés Pico got the southern half of the ranch, stretching down to the Santa Monica Mountains.
- Eulogio de Celis kept the northern half, going up to the Santa Susana Mountains.
New Owners Take Over
Andrés Pico later got into debt. In 1862, he sold his southern half of the Rancho to his brother, Pío Pico.
In 1869, Pío Pico sold his half of the land to Isaac Lankershim. Lankershim's business was called the "San Fernando Farm Homestead Association." In 1873, Isaac Lankershim's son, James Boon Lankershim, and his future son-in-law, Isaac Newton Van Nuys, came to the San Fernando Valley. They took over managing this large property. In the 1880s, their company changed its name to the "Los Angeles Farm & Milling Company."
After Eulogio de Celis died in 1869, his son, also named Eulogio F. de Celis, came back to Los Angeles from Spain. In 1874, the de Celis family sold their northern half of Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando. The buyers were California State Senator Charles Maclay and his business partners, George K. Porter (a shoe maker from San Francisco) and his cousin Benjamin F. Porter.
- The land bought by the Porters was west of what is now Sepulveda Boulevard.
- The land bought by Maclay was east of Sepulveda Boulevard.
