Rancho San Antonio (Peralta) facts for kids

Rancho San Antonio, also known as the Peralta Grant, was a huge piece of land given by the Spanish government. It was about 44,800 acres (181 square kilometers)! The last Spanish governor of California, Pablo Vicente de Solá, gave this land to Luís María Peralta. He was a sergeant in the Spanish Army and later helped manage the town of San José. This gift was to thank him for his forty years of service.

The land grant was given on August 3, 1820. It included the areas where many cities are today, like San Leandro, Oakland, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, Berkeley, and Albany.

A Look Back: Rancho San Antonio's Story

The Peralta Family and Their New Home

Map showing the northern part of Rancho San Antonio in 1859.

Even though Luís María Peralta never lived on the rancho himself, his four sons and their families did. Along with their wives, children, and other Mexican workers, the Peralta sons created the first Spanish-speaking communities in the East Bay area.

As the rancho grew, the Peralta brothers built bigger and better homes. The main house, called a hacienda, had two adobe buildings (made of sun-dried bricks) and about twenty guest houses. It became a popular stop for travelers on the camino real, which was the only main road on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay during the Spanish era.

Life on the Rancho: Cattle, Horses, and Trade

The hacienda was the social and business center of this large rancho. Fun events like yearly rodeos, cattle round-ups, horse races, and games often happened here. The Peraltas eventually had over 8,000 cattle and 2,000 horses grazing on their land.

They even built a dock on the bay near their main house. This allowed them to trade things like rawhide (animal skin) and tallow (animal fat) that came from their cattle. Over fifty years, the Peralta family built 16 houses on Rancho San Antonio. These included eleven adobes, three wooden houses, one brick house, and the very first structure made of "logs and dirt."

Domingo Peralta's home was near Codornices Creek. Vicente Peralta's home was in what is now the Temescal area of Oakland.

Dividing the Land and Facing Challenges

In 1842, Luís María Peralta decided to divide the rancho among his sons. His five daughters received his cattle and his adobe house and land in San Jose. He passed away in 1851. Before he died, he told his sons to stay away from the California Gold Rush. He famously said, "The land is our gold." However, it would not be easy for the Peraltas to keep their property.

After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, the United States government promised to protect the property rights of the Californios (people of Spanish or Mexican descent living in California). This promise was part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. But in 1851, a new U.S. law required Californios to prove they owned their land in court.

This legal process took many years. During this time, people known as squatters moved onto Rancho San Antonio without permission. They stole and killed cattle. They even divided and sold parts of the land that belonged to the Peraltas.

Fighting for Their Land in Court

The United States Supreme Court confirmed the Peralta family's land ownership in 1856. However, the Peralta family then had their own disagreement about the land. The Peralta sisters felt they had been cheated out of the family land. They challenged their brothers' claim to the Rancho San Antonio land grant. This court case, called the "Sisters Title case," was finally decided in the brothers' favor by the California Supreme Court in 1859.

By 1860, the brothers' land had become much smaller. This was partly because they had to pay for all the court cases from the past ten years. They also had to pay new property taxes. One of the lawyers who helped them, Horace Carpentier, received large parts of the Peralta lands as payment for his work.

The Last Peralta Home

After a big earthquake in 1868 destroyed many of the rancho's buildings, Antonio Peralta (the third son) built a new house in 1870. This two-story house, known as the Peralta Hacienda, was built in the Victorian style. It is located in what is now the Fruitvale area of Oakland.

In 1872, the combined property of Luís María Peralta's sons was worth about $200,000. This was much less than their father's estate, which was valued at over $1.3 million when he died. By the time Antonio Peralta died in 1879, he only had about 23 acres (0.09 square kilometers) left. His father had originally given him 16,067 acres (65 square kilometers).

The 1870 house and the remaining land from Antonio's share were sold in 1897 by his daughter, Inez Galindo. A developer named Henry Z. Jones bought it. He created streets and smaller plots of land. He also moved the 1870 house to where it stands today.

This 1870 house and a brick house (the Peralta Home, built by the eldest son Ignacio Peralta in 1860) are the only two original buildings left from the entire rancho. The 1870 House is now part of the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland and is open for tours.

Important Historical Sites

• Rancho San Antonio is recognized as California Historical Landmark #246. You can find a special plaque about it in San Leandro.
• Joaquin Miller House
  • A National Historic Landmark
  • Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, NPS-66000204.
  • California Historical Landmark #107
  • Oakland Designated Landmark #5
• Antonio Maria Peralta House
  • Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 77000285
  • California Historical Landmark #925
  • Oakland Designated Landmark #10
• Camino of Rancho San Antonio, California Historical Landmark #299: This historic road went from Mission San José to Fruitvale. Later, it extended to San Pablo by way of Oakland and El Cerrito.
• Tower to John C. Frémont, Oakland Designated Landmark #4