Rancho San Dieguito was a

Mexican land grant The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for ...

in present-day

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

given in 1845 by Governor

Pío Pico Don Pío de Jesús Pico (May 5, 1801 – September 11, 1894) was a Californio politician, ranchero, and entrepreneur, famous for serving as the last governor of California (present-day U.S. state of California) under Mexican rule. A member of ...

Juan María Osuna Juan María Osuna (1785 – March 5, 1851) was an early settler of San Diego, California. Life Juan María Osuna was born 1785 in California to Juan Hismerio Osuna and Maria Alvarado. He was a soldier and corporal of the San Diego Company and ...

. The rancho property was renamed

Rancho Santa Fe Rancho Santa Fe is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States, within the San Diego metropolitan area. The population was 3,156 at the 2020 census. The CDP is primarily residential with a few shopping block ...

in 1922 by the Santa Fe Land Company.

History

Juan Maria Osuna, son of one of the "leather-jacket soldiers", also became a soldier and for many years served at the

Presidio of San Diego El Presidio Real de San Diego (Royal Presidio of San Diego) is a historic fort in San Diego, California. It was established on May 14, 1769, by Gaspar de Portolá, leader of the first European land exploration of Alta California—at that time an ...

. Osuna played an important role in the establishment of the pueblo of San Diego (population 150) and was elected

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

. In addition, Juan Osuna became a Justice of the Peace and was administrator of the San Diego Mission. As Mayor, one of Juan Maria Osuna's powers included the approval of petitions for land and he quiet naturally approved his own application for the San Dieguito grant. In 1845, Governor Pio Pico awarded him full title to the two square league Rancho San Dieguito. In 1806, Osuna married Maria Juliana Josepha Lopez (1791-1871). Osuna built an adobe home on the ranch for himself and his wife, and gave an existing adobe to his son, Leandro. Osuna was considered a fine alcalde but was also a gambling man and lost some of his land to pay off bad debts. Leandro Osuna took possession of the ranch in 1851 when his father died. A veteran of the Battle of San Pasqual in 1846, Leandro died in 1859; he was thirty-seven years old. The care of Rancho San Diequito fell to Juan Osuna's widow, Juliana Lopez de Osuna. 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 Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexicans, Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% ...

, 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 San Dieguito was filed with the

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 ...

in 1852, and the grant was

patented A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

to Juliana Lopez de Osuna in 1871.

Rancho Santa Fe

The Osuna heirs in 1906 sold the Rancho San Dieguito land grant to the Santa Fe Land Improvement Company, a subsidiary of the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

Company. The railway acquired it for planting groves of Blue gum eucalyptus (''Eucalyptus globulus'') trees to harvest for railroad ties. However, the eucalyptus wood was too soft for railroad spikes, splitting when hammered into. Looking to recoup their losses on the failed timber venture, the Santa Fe Land Improvement Company began the development of a planned community of country estates, renamed

in 1922. It had a thematic unity from

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

and

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonia ...

architectural styles for original structures and landscape features, that created an ambiance evocative of the Spanish and Mexican Rancho era.

Historic sites of the Rancho

* Juan María Osuna Adobe — the first home of Juan María Osuna, one of the oldest adobes in California.Juan María Osuna Adobe
/ref> * Leandro Osuna Adobe — in 1924 A.H. Barlow, a

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

businessman, purchased the historic adobe, saving it from destruction. Several years later

Lilian Rice Lilian Jeannette Rice (June 12, 1889 – December 22, 1938) was an eco-conscious, early 20th-century American architect working primarily in the California Spanish Colonial Revival style. Several of her works are listed on the U.S. National Reg ...

completed its rehabilitation. It remains on a knoll overlooking the San Dieguito River valley.

References

{{California history San Dieguito San Dieguito North County (San Diego County) Rancho Santa Fe, California 1845 establishments in Alta California

History

Rancho Santa Fe

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References