Rancho Ojai facts for kids
Rancho Ojai was a huge piece of land in what is now Ventura County, California. It was about 17,717 acres (or 71.78 square kilometers)! This land was given as a special gift, called a Mexican land grant, in 1837. The governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado, gave it to a person named Fernando Tico. Rancho Ojai was located near the Ventura River and included the area where the city of Ojai is today, close to the Topatopa Mountains.
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The Story of Rancho Ojai
Fernando Tico and the Land Grant
Fernando Tico was an important person in early California. He was even the alcalde (like a mayor or judge) of Santa Barbara in 1829. In 1837, Governor Juan Alvarado gave him the Rancho Ojai land grant. This grant was about four square leagues, which is a lot of land! Later, in 1845, Tico received another smaller piece of land near Mission San Buenaventura. He was also elected to the first Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in 1855.
California Becomes Part of the U.S.
After the Mexican–American War ended in 1848, California became part of the United States. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo said that the land grants given by Mexico would still be honored. So, in 1852, a claim for Rancho Ojai was filed with the Public Land Commission. This commission checked if the land grants were real. The grant was officially approved for Fernando Tico in 1870.
New Owners and the Town of Ojai
In 1853, Fernando Tico sold Rancho Ojai to Henry Starrow Carnes. Carnes was a lieutenant in a group called 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers. A few years later, in 1856, Carnes sold the rancho to Juan Camarillo. Then, in 1864, Camarillo sold it to John Bartlett.
Bartlett later divided the land. He sold one-third to John B. Church and the rest to John Wyeth in 1865. Church and Wyeth worked with Thomas R. Bard and represented a company interested in oil. In 1874, the first town in the valley was named Nordhoff. It was named after a journalist, Charles Nordhoff, who wrote about how special the area was. It wasn't until 1917 that the town's name was changed to Ojai.
