Rancho Las Encinitas facts for kids
Rancho Las Encinitas was a large piece of land, about 4,434 acres, in what is now San Diego County, California. It was a Mexican land grant given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Andrés Ybarra. The name “Los Encinitos” means "little oaks," but it was later misspelled as “Las Encinitas.” This land stretched along the Pacific coast from San Elijo Lagoon to Batiquitos Lagoon. Today, it includes areas like Leucadia, Encinitas, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and Olivenhain.
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History
Andrés Ybarra's New Land
Andrés Ybarra was born around 1788. He lived in Los Angeles in 1819. Before he received Rancho Las Encinitas in 1842, he owned a store in San Diego.
Andrés Ybarra built a house made of adobe (sun-dried bricks) on the northeast side of his rancho. He and his wife, Francisca Juana Moreno, lived there for 18 years.
California Joins the United States
After the Mexican–American War, California became part of the United States in 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo said that the land grants given by Mexico would still be valid.
In 1852, a claim for Rancho Las Encinitas was filed with the government. This was required by a law called the Land Act of 1851. The grant was officially given to Andrés Ybarra in 1871.
New Owners for the Rancho
Andrés Ybarra sold Rancho Las Encinitas in 1860. The new owners were Joseph S. Mannasse and Marcus Schiller, who were merchants from San Diego. They changed the adobe ranch house into a station for stagecoaches.
Later, Mannasse and Schiller had money problems and lost the rancho. In 1880, the land was sold to two brothers, Frank and Warren Kimball. They hoped to sell the rancho to a group of immigrants who wanted to start a new community.
In 1884, Theodore Pinther and Conrad Stroebel bought the rancho from the Kimball brothers. They bought it for a group of German immigrants. This new community was named Olivenhain, which means "olive grove" in German.
Historic Sites of the Rancho
- Stagecoach Community Park. This park has the remains of the Andrés Ybarra adobe house, which was also the old stagecoach stop.
