Rancho Simi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Rancho Simi |
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| Location | 137 Strathearn Place, Simi Valley, California |
| Official name: Rancho Simi | |
| Reference no. | 979 |
Rancho Simi, also known as Rancho San José de Nuestra Señora de Altagracia y Simí, was a 113,009-acre (457 km2) Spanish land grant in what is now eastern Ventura and western Los Angeles counties granted in 1795 to Santiago Pico, founder of the Pico family of California. After Santiago Pico's death in 1815, the Rancho was regranted to Santiago's sons Javier Pico and his two brothers, Patricio Pico and Miguel Pico by Diego de Borica. The name derives from Shimiji, the name of a Chumash village in the Simi Valley for thousands of years before the Spanish arrival.
History
Rancho Simi was a Spanish land concession in Alta California given in 1795 to Francisco Javier Pico, a soldier of the Santa Barbara company, and his two brothers, Patricio Pico and Miguel Pico by the Spanish government.
The grant was confirmed in 1842 by Mexican Governor Juan Alvarado. José de la Guerra y Noriega, a Captain of the Santa Barbara Presidio, who had begun to acquire large amounts of land in California to raise cattle, purchased Rancho Simi from the Pico family in 1842.
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Simi was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to José de la Guerra y Noriega in 1865.
A few years after Jose de la Guerra’s death in 1858, the rancho was sold to the Philadelphia and California Petroleum Company headed by Pennsylvania Railroad president, Thomas A. Scott. When no great amount of oil was discovered, Scott began to sell the rancho. In 1887, a portion of the rancho was bought by a newly formed company, the Simi Land and Water Company. The city of Simi Valley, California incorporated in 1969.
Historic sites of the Rancho
- Simi Adobe-Strathearn House. Home of Robert P. Strathearn served as the rancho headquarters. It is now part of the Strathearn Historical Park and Museum.
