Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela BLM survey map 1872

Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela was a Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given in 1837 to Ygnacio Machado. The name means "Sentinel of the Waters" in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, and refers to the

artesian water An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within t ...

in the area exemplified by

Centinela Springs The Aguaje de Centinela, or Centinela Springs, was a valued source of local spring water for Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela and what is now southwest Los Angeles and Inglewood in Southern California. Monuments California Historical Landmark marker ...

. Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela included parts of present-day Westchester and Inglewood.

History

Rancho Ajuaje de la Centinela, was once part of the

Rancho Sausal Redondo Rancho Sausal Redondo (Round Willow-grove Ranch) was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1837 to Antonio Ygnacio Ávila by Juan Alvarado Governor of Alta California. ''Rancho Sausal Redondo'' cover ...

, and Ygnacio Machado had encroached on the land claimed by Antonio Avila, and was awarded provisional title to this land at the same time that Antonio Avila received his land grant for the balance of the Rancho Sausal Redondo in 1837. In 1845, Machado traded the rancho to Bruno Avila, brother of Antonio Avila, for a small tract in 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 Spai ...

. 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 Aguaje de la Centinela was filed with the Public Land Commission 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 Bruno Avila in 1872. Bruno Avila, unable to repay his debts, lost his property through foreclosure in 1857. Subsequent to this, the Rancho Ajuaje de la Centinela changed hands a number of times.

Robert Burnett Admiral Sir Robert Lindsay Burnett, (22 July 1887 – 2 July 1959) was an officer in the Royal Navy. Naval career Educated at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy and Bedford School, Burnett joined the Royal Navy in 1902. He served on the China St ...

acquired the Rancho Ajuaje de la Centinela from Joseph Lancaster Brent in 1860. In 1868, Burnett added the Rancho Sausal Redondo, joining the two ranchos again. Burnett returned to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, and leased the of the combined ranchos to Catherine Freeman (wife of Daniel Freeman) in 1873; with an agreement that she could eventually buy the ranchos outright. After Catherine's death in 1874, Daniel Freeman began the commercial development of the real estate. He became one of the directors of the Centinela Land Company, which started in 1874, with the purpose of developing commercially the Rancho Centinela. The venture failed, but Freeman was central in another undertaking, that of the Centinela-Inglewood Land Company in 1887 to develop what would be known as the town of Inglewood. Txu-pclmaps-topo-ca-inglewood-1923

Marker and correction

The local chapter of the Native Daughters of the Golden West placed a marker mentioning Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela at the Theme Building of the Los Angeles International Airport in 1962. The following letter appeared in the ''Los Angeles Times'' on Sept. 14, 1963. :ERROR CITED IN AIRPORTS RANCHO MARKER :I’m surprised that a bronze marker at Los Angeles International Airport could show wrong information. The marker bears the words: “Original Mexican grant to Ignacio Machado in 1844 known as Rancho Aguaje de Centinela.” :No part of International Airport is within Rancho Centinela. All of the airport is within Rancho Sausal Redondo. :The nearest part of Rancho Centinela is 3700 ft from airport property. :I hope the wrong marker was changed. I like my history to be facts not fiction. :David I. Worsfold, Palms

Related locations

. Bubbling springs once flowed here. *

Centinela Adobe The Centinela Adobe, also known as La Casa de la Centinela, is a Spanish Colonial style adobe house built in 1834. It is operated as a house museum by the Historical Society of Centinela Valley, and it is one of the 43 surviving adobes within ...

is an adobe house constructed in 1834 by Ygnacio Machado.Exterior view of an adobe at Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela, near Inglewood, ca.1930
/ref> * Centinela Creek, a tributary of

Ballona Creek Ballona Creek (pronunciation: “Bah-yo-nuh” or “Buy-yo-nah” ) is an channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a “year-round river lined with sycamores and willows.” Ballona Creek ...

Centinela Park Edward Vincent Jr. Park is a municipal park in Inglewood, Los Angeles County, California. Originally Centinela Park, the historic location was renamed in 1997 to honor Edward Vincent Jr., the first African-American mayor of the city."Lawsuit F ...

in Inglewood now Edward Vincent Jr. Park

References

External links

Library of Congress Online: Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County

1875 Map of the Ranchos Centinela and Sausal Redondo
{{California history Aguaje de la Centinela Aguaje de la Centinela History of Los Angeles Inglewood, California Westchester, Los Angeles Agua 19th century in Los Angeles