La Placita (originally: La Placita de los Trujillos; alternate: San Salvador) is a former settlement and the earliest community established in Riverside County, California, USA. The town was informally established soon after 1843 on the Santa Ana River, across from the town of

Agua Mansa Agua Mansa ("gentle water") is a former settlement in an unincorporated area of San Bernardino County, near Colton, California, United States. Once the largest settlement in San Bernardino County, it is now a ghost town. Only the cemetery remain ...

. La Placita and Agua Mansa were the first non-native settlements in the

San Bernardino Valley The San Bernardino Valley ( es, Valle de San Bernardino) is a valley in Southern California located at the south base of the Transverse Ranges. It is bordered on the north by the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains; ...

. Together, they were referred to as "San Salvador", and were the largest settlements between

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in the 1840s.

History

A group of

genízaro are detribalized Native Americans who, by war or payment of ransom, were taken into Hispano and Puebloan villages as indentured servants, shepherds, general laborers, etc., in Santa Fe de Nuevo México in New Spain, which is modern New Mexico, ...

colonists from

Abiquiú, New Mexico Abiquiú (, , Tewa: ; Northern Tiwa: ) is a census-designated place in Rio Arriba County, in northern New Mexico in the southwestern United States, about 53 miles (85 km) north of Santa Fe. As of 2010, the population was 231. Abiquiú' ...

, arrived in the area in the early 1840s. Don

Juan Bandini Juan Bandini (1800 – November 4, 1859) was a Peruvian-born Californio public figure, politician, and ranchero. He is best known for his role in the development of San Diego in the mid-19th century. Early history Bandini was born in 1800 in Lima ...

donated a portion of

Rancho Jurupa Rancho Jurupa was a Mexican land grant in California, United States, that is divided by the present-day counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. The land was granted to Juan Bandini by Governor Juan B. Alvarado in 1838. Located along both ba ...

to them on the condition that they would assist in protecting his

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

from Indian raids. Lorenzo Trujillo led ten of the colonist families to 2,000 acres on the "Bandini Donation" on the southeast bank of the Santa Ana River and formed the village of La Placita while others went to the northwest bank of the river and created the town of Agua Mansa. Farms, orchards, and vineyards were planted and developed after an extensive irrigation system was incorporated. Livestock were tended on the mesa pasture area to the southeast in what is now Riverside. Formal establishment of the area as a political unit occurred in 1852 when the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County established a town called "San Salvador" encompassing Jurupa, Agua Mansa, and other adjacent settlements; Lorenzo Trujillo's house was established as the official location for elections. The region now resides in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. After the Great Flood of 1862 and a second flood in 1886, most residents moved to other locations including what is now south Colton. Today, the

cemetery is the main symbol of the history of the region. The area is now dominated by several industrial complexes and Riverside County waste transfer and recycling stations. Unfortunately, the historic nature of this area continues to be lost as local governments move to approve developments including warehousing and high density housing on these lands rather than celebrate and support the history of the area.

Culture

The town's first church consisted of an arbor. After the adobe church that was built in 1852 collapsed in

quicksand Quicksand is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that los ...

, a new church was built in Agua Mansa. Completed in 1853 and dedicated to San Salvador, the church survived through the Great Flood of 1862. The parish of San Salvador de Jurupa included La Placita and Agua Mansa; it was the first non-mission parish in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. However, as residents moved from the area, a new congregation was established in 1893 in Colton, which retains the parish name of San Salvador, in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino The Diocese of San Bernardino ( la, Dioecesis Sancti Bernardi, es, Diócesis de San Bernardino) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese in Southern California. Erected by Pope Paul VI on July 14, 1978, and its jurisdiction extends ...

. The Trujillo Adobe, which had been the home of Lorenzo Trujillo, was donated to the Riverside County Parks Department by JoAnn Conner (Dreesen), the niece of Charles Trujillo. The small structure south of the

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

boundary at the corner of Center and Orange Streets has been proposed for historic preservation.

References

{{authority control Former settlements in Riverside County, California Communities in Riverside County, California Ghost towns in California Populated places established in 1843 Santa Ana River 1843 establishments in Alta California