Rancho Rosa Castilla was a Mexican land grant in the southwestern

San Rafael Hills The San Rafael Hills are a mountain range in Los Angeles County, California. They are one of the lower Transverse Ranges, and are parallel to and below the San Gabriel Mountains, adjacent to the San Gabriel Valley overlooking the Los Angeles Bas ...

, in present day

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, given to Juan Ballesteros in 1831 by Governor

Manuel Victoria Manuel Victoria (died 1833) was governor of the Mexican-ruled territory of Alta California from January 1831 to December 6, 1831. He died in exile. He was appointed governor on March 8, 1830 by Lucas Alamán. Exile The revolt, called Battle of Ca ...

. It included present day Rose Hills, Lincoln Heights,

City Terrace City Terrace is an unincorporated area of East LA, in Los Angeles County, California, east of Downtown Los Angeles. It contains City Terrace Elementary School, Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School, Esteban Torres High School, Harrison Elementar ...

, El Sereno and portions of South Pasadena,

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...

, and Monterey Park. After California statehood, the land grant failed to receive confirmation from the U.S.

Public Land Commission The California Land Act of 1851 (), enacted following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the admission of California as a state in 1850, established a three-member Public Land Commission to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican la ...

History

"Rancho Rosa de Castilla" was named for the abundant amount of native Wood roses (''Rosa californica'') along the creek. Th
Kizh
Indians named this area, ''Ochuunga'' (Place of Roses). When Spanish

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

s founded the San Gabriel Mission in 1771, they dubbed the small river El Rio Rosa de Castillo. In 1831, the land was granted to prominent

Californio Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish-speaking community has resided there sinc ...

Juan Ballesteros, the Register of the

Pueblo of Los Angeles In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

from 1823 to 1824. The rancho was christened Rancho Rosa de Castilla. With the

cession The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...

of California to the United States following the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, the 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Rosa Castilla was filed with the

by Anacleto Lestrade, a priest at the San Gabriel Mission in 1852, but the Rosa de Castilla grant failed to receive confirmation from the Land Commission. The Board of Land Commissioners rejected the claim because: (a.) of unclear boundaries; and (b.) that the original grantee, Juan Ballesteros, had not occupied the land continuously as required. In 1852, the title passed to Jean-Baptiste Batz and his wife, Catalina. A

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

emigre, Batz used the land for farming and intensive sheep ranching. In 1882, after both Jean-Baptiste and Catalina died, the land was divided among six of their children.Sustainable Cities and Industrial Ecology in El Sereno

References

{{California history Rosa Castilla Rosa Castilla San Rafael Hills San Gabriel Valley 1831 establishments in Alta California History of Los Angeles Alhambra, California El Sereno, Los Angeles Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles Monterey Park, California South Pasadena, California 19th century in Los Angeles

History

See also

References