Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados facts for kids

Rancho Laguna de Los Palos Colorados was a huge piece of land, about 13,316 acres (which is about 54 square kilometers), given out by the Mexican government in 1841. This land was located in the Berkeley Hills area, in what is now Contra Costa County, California.

The land was given to Joaquín Moraga and his cousin, Juan Bernal, by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. The name "Rancho Laguna de Los Palos Colorados" means "Ranch of the Lake of the Redwoods" in Spanish.

This large rancho covered areas that are now the towns of Orinda, Lafayette, and Moraga. It also included smaller communities like Canyon and Rheem.

How the Rancho Was Established

In 1835, Joaquín Moraga (who lived from 1792 to 1855) and his cousin, Juan Bernal (1802–1847), asked the government for this land. Their request was approved, and they were granted Rancho Laguna de Los Palos Colorados. Joaquín Moraga was the grandson of José Joaquín Moraga, a Spanish soldier who was part of the important Anza Expedition. Juan Bernal was also the grandson of a Spanish soldier from the same expedition, Juan Francisco Bernal.

Changes After the Mexican-American War

After the Mexican–American War ended in 1848, California became part of the United States. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which officially ended the war, promised that the land grants given by the Mexican government would still be valid.

Because of a new law called the Land Act of 1851, people who owned these land grants had to file a claim to prove their ownership. Joaquín Moraga filed a claim for Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados in 1853. The ownership of the land was officially confirmed to him in 1878.

Who Owned the Rancho Over Time?

Juan Bernal passed away in 1847, and Joaquín Moraga died in 1855. By 1859, a lawyer named Horace Carpentier had managed to buy most of the Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados through many different deals.

In 1889, Carpentier sold the land to two men involved in railroads: Angus A. Grant and James A. Williamson. They created the Moraga Land Association. Their plan was to build a railroad and divide the land into smaller towns and ranches. However, their plan never happened, and Carpentier took the property back.

In 1912, Charles A. Hooper and James Irvine II became interested in buying the land. A railroad, the Oakland & Antioch Railroad, had been built through the Rancho by 1913. Hooper bought the property, and just a week later, he started selling parts of it to Irvine, who was his business rival. By 1923, Irvine's company, the Moraga Company, owned most of the original rancho.

Irvine died in 1947. In 1953, his family sold the remaining 5,000 acres (about 20 square kilometers) of the rancho to the Utah Construction Company. This company faced strong opposition from the local community. Even though they owned the land for thirteen years during a time when the valley was growing fast, they never built any homes. However, they did create subdivisions, which are areas divided into smaller plots, and sold them to many building contractors. Among these contractors were the Rheem brothers, Donald and Richard, who started the Rheem Land Company in 1961.

Historic Places on the Rancho

• Moraga Adobe — The Joaquin Moraga Adobe is a historic building believed to have been built around 1841. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's recognized as an important historical site. In 1941, Katharine Brown White Irvine of Oakland bought and restored this property.