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At one time Rancho San Pedro comprised of 75,000 acres of what is today prime real estate including virtually all South Bay communities and the entire Palos Verdes Peninsula. It was all owned by one man, Juan Jose Dominguez, an uneducated retired soldier. In 1784, the rancho was the first piece of land granted to a private citizen in Southern California. It is astounding to realize that a substantial portion of the original grant still remained in the hands of Dominguez heirs late into the 20th century. To this day, Dominguez descendants own property, which was the former Rancho San Pedro.
Don Manuel Dominguez, a grandnephew of Juan Jose Dominguez, built a six-room adobe hacienda on the rancho in 1827. The home survived the test of time and currently stands on the east slope of Dominguez Hill at 18127 Alameda Street in Compton. Now consisting of eight rooms the adobe has been altered somewhat and is used as a museum denoting the illustrious history of Rancho San Pedro and the Dominguez family.
Portuguese explorer, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, while sailing under the flag of Spain, was the first European to set eyes upon the barren hills and plains of what was to be Rancho San Pedro. On October 8, 1542 he sailed into San Pedro Bay. There, he noticed several wild fires burning in the surrounding hills producing dark plumes of smoke. He named the area "Bahia de los Fumos" which was Spanish for "Bay of Smokes". This bay with a shallow estuary held this title for over fifty years, until changed by another Spanish sea faring explorer. On November 26, 1602, Sebastian Viscaino sailed into the same bay and renamed it Ensenada de San Andres (Bay of Saint Andrew), mistakenly thinking he arrived on the feast day of Saint Andrew. In actuality he entered the bay on the feast day of Saint Peter, Bishop of Alexandria. In 1734, Cabrera Bueno, a famed navigator and cosmologist discovered Vizcaino's error and renamed the bay San Pedro, in honor of the martyred saint. Today, the port community of San Pedro still retains the name.
Due to Rancho San Pedro's immense size, there were numerous Indian village sites scattered throughout the land, which later came under the ownership of the Dominguez family. There were at least ten Gabrielino rancherias located in the coastal areas of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The majority of these were concentrated in the San Pedro area. Being close to the sea, shellfish was a main part of their diet, along with acorns and wild game. Indians from these settlements witnessed the arrival of Cabrillo and Vizcaino. Cabrillo thought the Indians were responsible for causing the brush fires he observed in the hills, which inspired the name, Bay of Smokes. He surmised that the fires were set to drive out game from the thick grass, or they were signal fires to guide their canoes home from a fishing expedition.
On the west side of the peninsula there was Indian material discovered near Malaga Cove. This was probably from the rancheria of Chowigna located nearby. The closest village to the Dominguez homestead was Suangna, which means the Place of Rushes. The name derived from "cienegas" or grassy swampland which dominated the area long ago forming the Dominguez Channel of today. Rushes or "tules" were abundant in the wetlands. Suangna was located four miles south of the Dominguez home on land now occupied by Watson Industrial Properties. A historic monument has been placed at the site on 230th Street west of Wilmington Avenue in the city of Carson. Members of this defunct settlement helped with the construction of Juan Jose Dominguez's adobe on Dominguez Hill. Later, they served as vaqueros for the rancho. The village was occupied as late as 1852, but it was devastated by fatal diseases and eventually abandoned.
Juan Jose Dominguez was born in 1736 in the village of Sinaloa, Mexico. He was a descendent of a distinguished Catalan Spanish family. Natives from Spanish Catalonia joined the royal military forces and formed the Catalan Volunteers. They aggressively took part in the conquest of the New World for the Spanish crown. Juan Jose's father, Jose Ignacio Dominguez, was on of these Catalan Volunteers who arrived in Mexico slightly after the year 1700. Primarily, he served in the military in the Sonoran and Sinaloan provinces. Juan Jose's mother was Ana Maria Sepulveda, who was a member of a prominent Castillian Spanish family.
Juan Jose Dominguez was twenty years old when he too joined the military in 1756. Like his father, he was a Catalan Volunteer in the Royal Army. Here, he was part of a rough and rugged company of infantrymen known as "soldados de cuera" or leather jacket soldiers. They were named for their unique armor, which consisted of thick leather vests or sleeveless jackets. He spent the early part of his military career in Northern Mexico where he fought and survived many battles against the Sonoran Indians. Later he served at fixed posts in various localities in Baja California, eventually being assigned to the Royal Presidio at Loreto. During much of his time in Baja California, he was under the command of Captain Fernando de Rivera y Moncada. Dominguez was with Captain Rivera y Moncada when the when they arrived in the newly founded settlement of San Diego on June 29, 1769. This was the first Spanish settlement in Alta California.
Weeks later, Dominguez was selected to accompany Captain Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra during the La Santa Expedition, which had an objective of establishing a settlement in Monterey Bay. In early August 1769 the Portola party reached the Los Angeles River near the future sight of the pueblo of the same name. This was the first time Juan Jose Dominguez came close to the land, which was destined to be his. Rancho San Pedro would be established twelve miles south of the Portola campsite fifteen years later. The Portola expedition passed Monterey Bay during heavy fog and went on to discover the Golden Gate of San Francisco Bay. The party returned to San Diego early the following year. Dominguez returned to the Presidio at Loreto where he remained for two years. In 1773, he was sent north where he served at the new Presidio at Monterey. By the end of 1774, Dominguez was transferred to the Presidio at San Diego. On November 5, 1775, the San Diego Mission was attacked by hostile Indians. At the time, Dominguez was assigned to the mission garrison and fought to defend it.
During the latter part of his military career, Juan Jose Dominguez traveled many times up and down the coast of Alta and Baja California, usually by foot. He survived many armed conflicts from various enemies and witnessed the growth of colonization and missions in California. In 1780, he was the oldest trooper in the San Diego Company and his years of service were coming to an end. By 1782, he only achieved the rank of private first class. In July of that year, he retired from military service. During his last years in the army, he acquired some livestock and was looking for some grazing land. He spent two years in San Diego after his retirement.
In September 1782, Pedro Fages, the military commandante of California, became the Provincial Governor of Alta California. He was Dominguez's former lieutenant and accompanied him during the Portola Expedition of 1769. While Fages visited San Diego in 1783, Dominguez sought an opportunity to make a request for property from his former commander, who had become a powerful and influential official. Dominguez petition for some vacant land south of the pueblo of Los Angeles. Due to Dominguez's many years of dedicated service to the King of Spain, Governor Fages bestowed a provisional grant to the retired old soldier in March 1784, allowing him to graze his cattle on 75,000 acre Rancho San Pedro. This was the first private land grant in Southern California.
As compared to modern streets and landmarks, the original boundaries of Rancho San Pedro are described as follows:
The eastern boundary was the Los Angeles River from Rosecrans Avenue in Paramount all the way to the mouth of the Cerritos Channel. The rancho consisted of the entire Palos Verdes Peninsula from the east end of Terminal Island all the way to the north city limit of Redondo Beach at Kings Harbor. From Santa Monica Bay, a line headed northwesterly along the routes of Anita Street, Ripley Avenue and Grant Avenue in Redondo Beach, and on to the intersection of Redondo Beach Boulevard and Hawthorne Boulevard in Torrance. The boundary line continued east along Redondo Beach Boulevard through Torrance and Gardena. After leaving Redondo Beach Boulevard at Budlong Avenue, the line continued in its northeasterly direction bisecting the Harbor Gateway, then following Lennon Street on to the convergence of Rosecrans Avenue and Central Avenue in Compton. The line continued eastward along Rosecrans, branching northeasterly at about Gonzales Park, and followed the course of Cressy Street, then Oris Street to Alameda Street. From here, the line headed east through Poppy Street, then roughly followed McMillan Street back to Rosecrans Avenue and the Los Angeles River.
Rancho San Pedro spread out over 120 square miles. Today this area includes the towns of Carson, Compton, Gardena, Lomita, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Torrance, the western portions of Long Beach and Paramount. It also included the Los Angeles communities of Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, San Pedro, Terminal Island and Wilmington.
From San Diego, Juan Jose drove his livestock, which included four herds of mares and 200 head of cattle, north toward Los Angeles. In August 1784, he stopped and set up camp near the Los Angeles River, just east of the land formation, which would become known as Dominguez Hill. While building his adobe home on the northeast slope of the hill, he lived at the pueblo of Los Angeles. With help from the inhabitants of Suangna, he constructed a simple two-room adobe. It was 33 square feet and had a dirt floor. The roof was made from willow poles covered with molten tar from the La Brea Pits. The approximate site of this adobe was near the modern day intersection of Artesia Boulevard and Alameda Street in the city of Compton. Near the house, upon the slope of the hill overlooking the river, he constructed corrals and several huts for his Indian vaqueros.
For the next two decades, Juan Jose Dominguez would live periodically at the adobe on Rancho San Pedro. He was not married and had no children. He did not like the loneliness of his remote rancho and therefore spent most of his time at the livelier San Gabriel Mission. There he could reminisce with some of his old fellow leather jacketed comrades who were still in active service. On one occasion in October of 1785, he participated in defending the mission during a revolt of Indian neophytes. He was still willing to get into the fray even in his retirement years. While spending most of his time away from his rancho, he left Felipe Talamantes and Mateo Rubio in charge of ranch operations. Talamantes and Rubio accompanied Dominguez on his cattle drive from San Diego back in 1784.
Due to Dominguez's frequent absences, the rancho did not prosper as it should. Some cultivation of grain took place near the Los Angeles River and his cattle grew at a slow but steady rate. By 1795 his herds of cattle grew to 1,000 head. Ten years later he had about 1,300 head of cattle, 3,000 mares, 1,000 fillies and 1,000 colts.
The rancho boundaries were very vague, which was quite consistent with most early Spanish concessions. The coast provided a natural boundary that was indisputable, but the northern and eastern borders were not clearly defined. The Los Angeles River was the eastern boundary, but it changed its course almost annually due to flooding. Sometimes the river deviated from its course up to a half mile. The river was the western boundary of Rancho Los Nietos, owned by Manuel Nieto, who was also a veteran leather jacket soldier and a friend of Dominguez. The constant alteration of this natural dividing line caused a long-standing dispute between the two former comrades. To make matters worse, Dominguez failed to brand his cattle and allowed them to roam to the Nieto side of the river. This caused further disputes over the ownership of cattle. It was not until 1817, when the Rancho San Pedro was first surveyed and mapped. Even then, the boundary markers were crude and vague. Piles of stones and trees were used to mark the northern border from the river to the salt lake, which was located near the coast in Redondo Beach. One of the trees marking the north boundary still stands at Poppy and Short Streets in the city of Compton. This massive tree, known as the "Eagle Tree", was marked in 1947 by a plaque placed at its base by the Native Daughters of the Golden West.
By 1800, Juan Jose Dominguez began to lose his eyesight and became totally blind by 1805. In the spring of that year, he went to live with his nephew Cristobal Dominguez at Mission San Juan Capistrano. He was a sergeant of the calvary and was in charge of the mission guard. Juan Jose had left Rancho San Pedro in the hands of his mayordomo (ranch manager), Manuel Gutierrez. Juan Jose Dominguez lived two years with his nephew at San Juan Capistrano. In 1807 he returned to the pueblo at Los Angeles where he lived the rest of his life. He died there on January 24, 1809, and was buried at the San Gabriel Mission Cemetery.
Manuel Gutierrez was the executor of Juan Jose's estate, while Felipe Talamantes was in control of the stock. In his will, drawn up three days before his death, he left half of his livestock to his nephew, Cristobal, and the remaining half to the children of Mateo Rubio. As Juan Jose Dominguez had no wife or children, he left his half of Rancho San Pedro to Cristobal Dominguez and the other half was divided between Rubio and Gutierrez. When Cristobal realized that his uncle died in debt and neglected his rancho, he initially wanted no part of his inheritance. He had no money to pay his uncle's creditors and could not occupy the rancho, even if he wanted, because he was still obligated to the military. Gutierrez paid off the debts owed by Juan Jose Dominguez, established residence and assumed control of the rancho.
Gutierrez was a bachelor who came to California from Spain in 1800. He was a very capable ranch manager and Rancho San Pedro thrived under his direction. Within the first ten years of possession his cattle expanded to 9,000 head. Prior to 1810, Gutierrez allowed a friend, Jose Dolores Sepulveda, to graze a thousand head of cattle in the southwest portion of the property know as Canada de Los Palos Verdes (Canyon of the Green Trees). Sepulveda built an adobe home here and made significant improvement to the unused portion of the land. This occupation by Sepulveda, who was from the same family of Juan Jose Dominguez's mother, later caused great difficulties for the Dominguez heirs resulting in years of litigation and the reduction of Rancho San Pedro to nearly half of its original size. During the years Manuel Gutierrez controlled the rancho, he also allowed Agustin Machado and members of the Avila family to graze cattle there.
Cristobal Dominguez was upset with the arrangement Gutierrez made with Sepulveda and protested the presence of the latter, who happened to be his cousin. It was assumed that Dominguez abandoned his claim to the rancho and that Gutierrez had every right to give young Jose Dolores Sepulveda permission to use the land. In August 1817, Cristobal Dominguez filed a petition with Governor Pablo Vicente de Sola to have Sepulveda removed from the property and request that Rancho San Pedro be re-granted to him. Gutierrez and Sepulveda refused to give up the land they worked so hard to improve. The governor issued a short poignant decree ordering Sepulveda from the rancho and granting provisional ownership to Cristobal Dominguez. Sepulveda refused to relinquish his home and appealed the governor's decree.
On December 31, 1822, Governor Sola formalized the land grant by confirming Cristobal Dominguez as owner of Rancho San Pedro. Sepulveda appealed this decision a second time and requested a personal meeting with Governor Luis Arguello in Monterey to plead his case. In 1824, while Sepulveda was returning from his trip to Monterey, he was killed in a violent Indian uprising at Mission La Purisima Concepcion, near today's Lompoc. His young sons, Juan and Jose Loreto Sepulveda, continued his quest for Rancho Palos Verdes. Manuel Gutierrez guided the boys and supervised their cattle operations. The Sepulvedas received a provisional grant to Rancho Los Palos Verdes.
Jose Cristobal Dominguez was born at the Presidio of Loreto in Baja California in 1761. His father was the brother of Juan Jose Dominguez and was also a soldier. Following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, he enlisted in the army at a young age and became a leather jacket soldier. He first was assigned to a post in La Paz, then at the Presidio of Loreto. In 1795, he married Maria de los Reyes Ybanez at the Loreto Mission. They had nine children: Maria Jesus (1796-1799), Josef de los Dolores (1798-1819), Maria Victoria (1800-1873), Manuel (1803-1882), Francisca Marcelina (1805-1828), Maria Elena Ramona (1807-1842), Jose Nasario (1809-1860), Pedro (1812-1859) and Maria Sinforosa (1815-1820). In the fall of 1795, Cristobal and his new bride moved to the San Diego Presidio where he was transferred.
Unlike his uncle, Cristobal received some education and was able to read and write. From 1800 to 1802 he was a member of the military staff of Governor Jose Joaquin Arrillaga. Being in the calvary, he participated as a guide and escorted several exploration expeditions. Like his uncle, he was an Indian fighter and survived a number of small battles, but was occasionally wounded. In 1804, he was the sergeant in charge of the garrison of 12 men assigned to protect Mission San Juan Capistrano. Here he learned the Juaneno Indian language as he dealt with mission neophytes on a daily basis. He was responsible for the discipline of wayward Indians, but was often asked to defend them as well. This was the period that his infirmed uncle, Juan Jose, came to live with him and his family. He served at the mission until 1811, when he transferred back to San Diego Presidio as a senior sergeant. He served the last part of his career at the Presidio until he retired in 1821.
When his uncle died, he inherited half of Rancho San Pedro, but due to his military obligation and lack of interest he chose not to take part in the rancho's affairs. Only the presence of Jose Dolores Sepulveda spurred him into re-establishing his claim to his title. Legal battles between the Sepulveda and Dominguez families continued for years, long after both Cristobal Dominguez and Jose Dolores Sepulveda had died. After receiving title to Rancho San Pedro in 1822, Dominguez remained in San Diego and never even visited the rancho.
At four o'clock in the morning of January 6, 1825, sixty-three year old Cristobal Dominguez died at the San Diego Presidio. He was laid to rest at the cemetery there. Just a day before his death, he made out a simple will. In it, he bequeathed Rancho San Pedro to his six surviving children. It was his wish that the land be divided equally among them.
His birth name was Luis Gonzaga Policarpo Manuel Antonio y Fernando Dominguez, but he was simply known as Manuel. He was born at the San Diego Presidio on January 26, 1803. He was the second oldest son of Cristobal Dominguez and Maria de Los Reyes Ybanez Dominguez. Manuel broke family tradition when he decided not to go into the military. He was an educated young man and able to read and write Spanish. Later, he also learned English.
A few months after his father's death, Manuel drove the small herd of family cattle north from San Diego with his mother and siblings accompanying him. Being the oldest male child at the time (his older brother Josef died in 1819 of a fever), he was now the head of the family. The family only had $100 when they took possession of Rancho San Pedro. The old abandoned two-room adobe of Juan Jose Dominguez was too small for the family to occupy so they went about building their own house. Manuel's mother and two sisters lived at a town house in the pueblo of Los Angeles for about one year, while he and his brothers, Pedro and Nasario, constructed the family home.
In April of 1826, the Dominguez brothers selected a site on the northeast slope of Dominguez Hill approximately one half-mile south of Juan Jose's adobe for the dwelling. The location had a grand view of the river to the east and several underground fresh water springs situated just to the north and south of the homesite. They camped at the site and began enhancing the area and constructing the adobe with Manuel supervising their efforts. The original structure was a single story, "L" configured adobe with six rooms of ample size. The adobe walls were nearly two feet thick. The roof was flat and made of sturdy hewn timbers. Tules (reeds) from nearby cienegas covered the wood beams of the roof, which in turn were covered with sand and tar from the La Brea Pits. The house was completed by 1827 and stands today at 18127 Alameda Street in Compton. Later, Pedro and Nasario built their own adobe homes a short distance to the north and west of Manuel's adobe.
On May 16, 1826, Manuel Dominguez filed a petition with Governor Jose Maria Echeandia to have the Sepulveda family and their cattle removed from the Palos Verdes portion of the rancho. Four days later, the heirs of Cristobal Dominguez were confirmed by the governor as owners of Rancho San Pedro, thus being officially recognized by the new Mexican regime. Echeandia, known for his administrative ineptness, also provisionally approved of the Sepulveda's claim to Palos Verdes.
On December 7, 1826, Manuel Dominguez married nineteen year old Maria Engracia de Cota at the San Gabriel Mission. She was the granddaughter of Manuel Nieto, the original grantee of Rancho Los Nietos. Manuel brought his young bride to his adobe hacienda where they would spend the next 55 years together. They had ten children, but only six, all girls, survived to maturity. Their eight daughters were: Ana Josefa Juliana (1829-1907), Guadalupe Marcelina (1830-1913), Maria Leonor (1832-1833), Maria Adelaida (1835-1836), Dolores Simona (1838-1924), Maria Victoria (1842-1916), Susana Delfina (1844-1931) and Maria Jesus de los Reyes (1847-1933). Their two sons were Manuel Antonio (1837-1858) and Jose Antonio (1840-1863).
Don Manuel Dominguez began his political career shortly after arriving in Los Angeles. In 1828, he was a regidor (councilman) of the Ayuntamiento (town council) of Los Angeles. That same year he appointed as a presidential elector representing the pueblo and the following year he was a delegate to the first Mexican legislature in Alta California. He was elected to three separate terms as alcalde (mayor) of Los Angeles in 1832, 1839 and 1842. From 1833 to 1836 he was auxiliary alcalde or deputy mayor of the pueblo. In 1834 he served as a member of the Assembly of Alta California. In 1836, he was elected Justice of the Peace representing an area including his Rancho San Pedro and elected to the same position a second time in 1843.
In 1837, he attempted to negotiate a peaceful conclusion to the southern led revolt against Governor Juan B. Alvarado. In 1843, Dominguez was appointed prefect of the Second District of Los Angeles. This was the highest political office in the area as he reported directly to the governor. In 1844, he was selected as Capitan de Defensores (Captain of Defense) which made him the commander of the local militia. This was the extent of his Mexican political career. Being a popular man of honor, integrity and adaptability, Manuel Dominguez was one of the few Mexican statesmen to continue a career in politics under the later American government of California. He was also a surveyor and notary public.
On June 30, 1835, Manuel Dominguez purchased his brother Nasario's one-fifth interest in the rancho. He offered him only thirty mares with colts and a stallion for the 8,000-acre property. This was the beginning of Don Manuel's plan to buy out of the rest of his sibling's holdings. Eventually, he acquired most of the rancho from them, paying as little as fifty cents an acre. Nasario was heavily involved in gambling and horse racing and may have agreed to the incredulous terms of purchase due to his outstanding debts. Twenty years later, he would protest this purchase by attempting unsuccessfully to reclaim his portion of the rancho through litigation. Legal fees cost both brothers $5,000 and their relationship thereafter as they refused to speak to each other.
Meanwhile, the land feud between the Dominguez and Sepulveda clans was still unresolved. Jose Figueroa, the Governor of Alta California, was asked to step in as an arbitrator. On March 11, 1834, Governor Figueroa issued a decree ordering the partition of Rancho San Pedro between the Dominguez and Sepulveda families. The heirs of Jose Dolores Sepulveda were awarded the 31,629-acre Rancho Palos Verdes. Figueroa also stipulated in his decree that Manuel Gutierrez may remain as a resident and free to graze his stock on the rancho for the rest of his life, providing he gave up all claim of ownership to San Pedro. The partition decree left the Dominguez family with 43,119 acres reducing Rancho San Pedro nearly by half the area of the original grant. Rancho Palos Verdes consisted of the whole peninsula including the west side of Los Angeles Harbor, which is now the San Pedro area. The partition line essentially mirrors the route of modern day Sepulveda Boulevard from the Santa Monica Bay to Figueroa Street in Wilmington. Figueroa Street from Sepulveda to the West Basin of the harbor was the eastern boundary of Rancho Palos Verdes. This decree still did not settle matters, and lead to further disputes and litigation between the two proud families.
Juan Diego Sepulveda, the son of Jose Dolores Sepulveda, was given yet another order to leave the Palos Verdes section of Rancho San Pedro in June 1839. Again, the Sepulvedas defended their title and on April 22, 1841, they received a Decree of Possession and an addition strip of land north of Palos Verdes Hills. Then on June 3, 1846, Governor Pio Pico officially confirmed the title of Rancho Palos Verdes to Juan Diego and Jose Loreto Sepulveda. Pico also confirmed the title of Rancho San Pedro to the Manuel Dominguez and the other members of his family.
Warfare broke out in California in 1846 with the invasion of American forces. Although battles on the California front were few in number and minor in severity, they were no less significant militarily to the participants. One such battle occurred on the plains of Rancho San Pedro with the hacienda of Manuel Dominguez taking center stage.
In August 1846, the pueblo of Los Angeles was captured and held by American troops. Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie was placed in charge of a garrison of 50 men to maintain order in the pueblo. Gillespie imposed harsh restrictions causing the citizens to revolt. On September 30, 1846, Gillespie and his troops were forced out of town and retreated to San Pedro. Before evacuating, a mounted messenger stole his way into the night to give word of the rebellion to Commodore Robert F. Stockton in San Francisco. Stockton, commander of US military forces in California, sent Captain William Mervine and 300 men to aid Gillespie. Mervine arrived in San Pedro on the frigate U.S.S. Savannah on October 7, 1846. The following day, the combined forces of Mervine and Gillespie marched north to retake Los Angeles.
Along the way, they met resistance from about twenty Californio horsemen. The Americans were subjected to the "hit and run" tactics of the rapid moving Californios (Spanish Californians) armed with lances. The American troops reached the ranch house of Don Manuel Dominguez. Deciding to stay there for the evening, the troops set up camp and commandeered all of the ranch structures except the adobe home of Dominguez. The Dominguez family were not harmed, but had to provide food and supplies to the American invaders. Don Manuel sent a messenger on to Los Angeles to notify officials there about the arrival of a reinforced American body of troops.
Just before midnight, approximately 100 Californios led by General Jose Antonio Carrillo arrived from Los Angeles surrounded the adobe and fired theirs guns all night to disturb the Americans. Carrillo brought with him a single four pound cannon named "Old Woman's Gun" and placed it on a hill overlooking the adobe. The little cannon received its nickname during the first occupation of Los Angeles, when local residents buried the gun on the property of an elderly lady in order to hide it from the Americans.
At dawn, on the morning of the 9th, Carrillo ordered the cannon to be fired. A cannon ball struck one of the support posts of the Dominguez adobe causing a section of the roof to fall. American troops scrambled to get mobilized and continued their advance northward. At the low river valley immediately northeast of the Dominguez house was the battle site between the two forces. The Californios would fire upon the Americans then retreat. Their cannon was pulled by a pair of horsemen using reatas (ropes or lariats) and was capable of being moved quickly as the Americans tried to capture it. The cannon fire from Old Woman's Gun was initially ineffective due to a poor quality of gunpowder made at the San Gabriel Mission. Cannon shot would fall harmlessly in front of the advancing Americans.
The tide turned when Carrillo obtained a better grade of gunpowder from the expatriated American ranchero, Juan Temple from his nearby Rancho Los Cerritos. The new powder was loaded into the cannon with grapeshot. The gun was fired, immediately striking down several US Marines. After two hours of assaults from all sides, Mervine and Gillespie called for a retreat back to San Pedro. Only a few Mexicans were injured, none fatal. However, the Americans had four marines killed and several wounded. Another man died the next day. The American dead were buried on a small island in the harbor at San Pedro. Located just south of Rattlesnake Island (now Terminal Island), it became known as "Dead Man's Island". Posing a threat to ship navigation, the island was dredged away in 1921. The dry-dock area north of coast guard base on Terminal Island is the site of Dead Man's Island.
Stockton arrived two weeks later, but decided to abort the re-capture of Los Angeles. The Commodore, Mervine and Gillespie sailed to San Diego where they regrouped and planned to march on the obstinate little pueblo at a later date.
On January 10, 1847, Stockton with the aid of General Stephen W. Kearny's First Dragoons captured Los Angeles for the final time. Three days later the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed ending the fighting in California. The Mexican War ended the following year with an American victory.
With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the United States assumed authority over California. Most Mexican rancheros had a difficult time adapting to the new ways. Manuel Dominguez was one of the few exceptions. He was educated and was able to speak, read and write both in Spanish and English very well. In September 1849, he was selected as a delegate to the First California Constitutional Convention at Colton Hall in Monterey. From this gathering came the first set of laws for the state. Dominguez continued to serve the public under the new American form of government. From 1852 to 1857 he served as a Los Angeles County Supervisor. Unfortunately, Dominguez experienced a negative aspect of American culture, when in 1857 he was not allowed to testify in a court of law because he was part Indian.
In June 1852, Don Manuel purchased from Manuel Rocha the share of the rancho previously owned by Rocha's deceased mother, Maria Elena Dominguez de Rocha, who was Manuel's younger sister. Two weeks later, he bought out the interest of another sister, Maria Victoria Dominguez de Estudillo. She married Jose Estudillo, an army officer, in 1824. Since their marriage, they lived at Monterey and San Diego, and had no desire to settle upon their share of the ranch.
On October 19, 1852, Manuel Dominguez filed a formal claim to his share of Rancho San Pedro with the United States Land Commission. Los Angeles land attorney, Joseph Lancaster Brent represented Dominguez in the case. In March of 1855, the first official American survey of the rancho was conducted by George Hanson. On June 30, 1855 the Land Commission certified the confirmation of the title of the rancho. Six months later, the rancho was official partitioned among the heirs of Cristobal Dominguez. The attorney general filed an appeal to the Dominguez claim, but the US District Court issued a decree of confirming ownership to Manuel Dominguez and his brother and sisters. The United States Patent to Rancho San Pedro was signed by President James Buchanan on December 18, 1858. Brent personally carried the patent with him from Washington D.C. two months later.
In the last month of 1854, Manuel Dominguez sold two parcels of his share of the rancho. On December 15th, he sold the 214-acre Las Salinas Tract, an area including the old salt lake near today's Redondo Beach. The buyers were Henry Allanson and William Johnson who paid $500 for the property. They established the Pacific Salt Works Company obtaining salt from the lake there. The lake was used long before by the Indians of the Chowigna village. On December 23rd, Dominguez sold 2,400 acres near the harbor to Phineas Banning, Benjamin D. Wilson, John G. Downey and William Sanford for $20,000. Most of the land was mud flats and marshes, which was home to wild geese. Banning transformed the mudflats into a town he called New San Pedro. Later, it was renamed Wilmington after his birthplace of Wilmington, Delaware. Phineas Banning is credited for the early development of Los Angeles Harbor.
The 1850's was a trying decade for Southern California rancheros. They had to pay absorbent legal fees to defend their titles before the Land Commission. Many fell into tremendous debt and mortgaged their ranchos to obtain loans at high interest rates from American businessmen. Manuel Dominguez was no exception. In 1855 he secured a $12,000 loan from a man named Benjamin Richardson, by fronting his share of Rancho San Pedro as collateral. Fortunately, Dominguez was able to repay the loan ten months later. Other rancheros were not as lucky and ended up losing their land due to foreclosure. Rancheros who learned to diversify their operations survived the hard times of the 1850s and the disastrous drought years of the 1860s. Dominguez had the keen sense to plant alfalfa, barley, beans, and oats to supplement his cattle business.
It was Don Manuel's intent to keep the legacy of Rancho San Pedro intact and in the hands of the Dominguez family as much as possible. He was determined to keep his land at all costs. However, some land sales did take place. On May 25, 1866, Francis Pliney Fisk (FPF) Temple, the brother of John Temple, and Fielding W. Gibson purchased 4,600 acres in the north west portion of the rancho. The two men paid $1,700 or thirty-six cents an acre. They subdivided the tract and sold forty and eighty-acre farm lots to miners for $5.00 an acre. For a while, the place was known as Gibsonville. The following year, a wagon train of ten families led by Griffith Dickenson Compton arrived at the settlement. On September 7, 1867, the town of Comptonville was founded and named in honor the leader of the original caravan of settlers. The name was shortened to Compton two years later.
In May 1869, Dominguez granted a strip of land to the Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad Company to establish a rail line through his property. The railroad went from the harbor at Wilmington to a depot on Alameda Street in Los Angeles. The line was open in November of 1869 and crossed just to the east of the Dominguez manor. Today, the Atchison-Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad operates on this same private right-of-way.
Dominguez spent the latter part of his life in semi-retirement at his beloved ranch. He was still active in public affairs, but held no formal office. He shared the ranching operations with his manager, George Henry Carson. Since its completion in 1826, the Dominguez hacienda was always known for the hospitality guest would receive there. It was a midway stop for early travelers going between the harbor landing at San Pedro and the pueblo of Los Angeles. Don Manuel was well respected by Californios and Americans alike. On October 11, 1882, Manuel Dominguez died at his adobe home on Rancho San Pedro. A funeral Mass was held at Saint Vibiana's Cathedral in Los Angeles and he was buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles. Dona Maria Engracia Cota de Dominguez followed her husband in death only months later on March 16, 1883. Rancho San Pedro was left to their six surviving daughters.
At the time of Don Manuel's death, Rancho San Pedro was reduced to 27,500 acres. His daughters received the rancho as tenants in common, but they could not decide upon how the property was to be divided. In 1885 a court ordered partition settled the matter. Dominguez's daughters of held the same principle as their father by keeping as much of the rancho with the family as possible. From 1885 to 1900, only a total of 2300 acres of the Dominguez ranch was sold. Don Manuel died with no surviving male heirs so the Dominguez name was carried no further than 1883. All but one of his adult daughters married and took the names of their husbands.
Ana Josefa Juliana Dominguez was the oldest child of Don Manuel and Dona Maria Engracia was born in San Diego on February 3, 1829. She was an attractive young woman who was sought after by many gentlemen. But she refused them all and was not married until her late forties. In 1868 she married William Dryden, a judge who originally came from Kentucky. The marriage was short in duration as the seventy-year-old Dryden died of a heart attack less than a year later. She remarried in 1884 to Charles E. Guyer. He came to Los Angeles in 1876 from Colorado and was involved in banking and real estate. In 1885 the couple built a home at 937 Alvarado Street in Los Angeles. They had another house at 916 South Hill Street.
Ana Josefa died in Los Angeles on November 13, 1907. Mr. Guyer, who survived her, received $20,000 from her estate, but received no part of rancho interests. Being that she died with no children and that her husband was excluded from taking possession of her ranch property; her estate was to be distributed among her five surviving sisters. In 1910, the Dominguez Estate Company was formed to administer the inheritance. Subsequently, each sister formed similar companies to manage their respective estates. These companies served to protect the integrity of Rancho San Pedro and insured that it remained with the Dominguez heirs.
Maria Guadalupe Marcelina Dominguez was born on December 12, 1830 in Los Angeles. After the marriage of her sister, Ana Josefa, she managed the family homestead and took care of her parents in their later years. Her interests in Rancho San Pedro were situated to the north of the Dominguez homestead and at the west end of the rancho near the ocean. She never married though she had her share of gentlemen callers. For about twenty years, Guadalupe lived with her younger sister, Maria de los Reyes, at her family home on Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles. In 1907, with her health declining, she moved back to the Dominguez adobe where she spent the rest of her life in seclusion. She died of pneumonia on January 2, 1913.
Maria Dolores Simona Dominguez was born at the Dominguez adobe on September 25, 1838. In 1855 she married James A. Watson at age seventeen. Watson was a lawyer from Maryland who came to Los Angeles in 1853. He went into partnership with Joseph Lancaster Brent and together they represented many rancheros with their title claims before the Land Commission. Watson was a staunch member of the Democratic Party and served in the State Assembly during the 1860s. He bought twenty-four acres in Los Angeles near the intersection of 16th and Alameda Streets where he built his family home. Watson was only forty-eight when died suddenly of a heart attack in 1869, leaving Dolores with four children. She remained at the Los Angeles home until 1887 when she returned to her portion of the rancho.
Her interest of Rancho San Pedro consisted of 3,365 acres in the southern section surrounding the town of Wilmington. Her sons built homes two miles south of the Dominguez adobe near Alameda Street where they farmed the land. In 1921, oil was discovered on Dominguez Hill and on Watson property, greatly contributing to the wealth of the Watsons. Much of the oil rich land was later acquired by Shell Oil and the Richfield Oil Corporation (now ARCO). In 1913, Dolores Dominguez de Watson returned to live at the house of her birth and died at the Dominguez adobe on September 16, 1924. She was the last Dominguez to live at the adobe.
In 1927 the Watson Land Company was incorporated to manage the Watson interests in Rancho San Pedro. Today, the Watson Land Company has two major holdings on what was the original land grant. One is the 750-acre Watson Industrial Center and the other is the Watson-Alameda Industrial Park, a 106-acre complex. Descendants of the Watson family continue to be involved in the Dominguez Estate Company.
Maria Victoria Dominguez was born on April 27, 1842 at Rancho San Pedro. Like her sister Dolores, she married at a young age. On July 30, 1857 she married George Henry Carson when she was fifteen. Carson was born in New York in 1829. He served in the Mexican War, enlisting in the Illinois Volunteers. Starting as a drummer boy, then a bugler, he emerged as a regular soldier seeing a significant amount of action in Mexico. After the war, he fought Navajo Indians as a member of a band of rangers. Driving a herd of sheep from Mexico, he arrived in Los Angeles in 1853. There he opened a hardware store. He was active in local politics and served as a city council member in Los Angeles. Through political ties, Carson met Manuel Dominguez, which eventually led to the meeting of his young future wife.
For the first five years of their marriage, George and Victoria Carson lived at a home that Carson personally built at 10th and Figueroa Streets in Los Angeles. In 1862, they moved to Rancho San Pedro with their three children and Carson became Don Manuel's ranch manager. He continued to manage his wife's interest after the death of his father-in-law. Their part of the rancho was situated immediately south and west of the Dominguez homestead. The Carsons had fifteen children, consisting of eight daughters and seven sons. In 1887, Carson constructed a magnificent two-story mansion to house their large family. It was located just a stones throw to the northeast of the Dominguez adobe. George Carson died here on January 4, 1901. Victoria Dominguez de Carson passed away on December 18, 1916. Years later, on the Carson estate the town of Carson developed and was incorporated on February 20, 1968. In 1969, the ornately Victorian Carson mansion was sadly razed when Virginia Carson Caldwell, a daughter of George and Victoria Carson, died.
Maria Susana Delfina Dominguez was born at the Dominguez adobe on June 5, 1844. She lived with here parents for nearly forty years. Like her sister, Ana Josefa, she married late in life. In 1890, she was betrothed to Gregorio Del Amo y Gonzalez at the home of her birth. They first lived in Los Angeles at a house at 5th and Los Angeles Streets. Later, they moved to Redondo Beach, a town that evolved upon ranch land that was once part of Susana's inheritance. Del Amo was a doctor and surgeon who was born in Santona, Spain. He came to Los Angeles in 1887 and when he married Susana Dominguez, he was fourteen years her junior. From 1906 to 1912 he was appointed as the Spanish consul at San Francisco. In 1913, the Del Amos toured Europe and settled at the doctor's family home in Santona. World War I made Trans-Atlantic travel perilous, so the Del Amo's remained in Spain for eight years. When they returned, they bought an imposing mansion at 1119 Westchester Place in Los Angeles. In the early 1920s, oil was discovered on their Rancho San Pedro property northwest of the town of Torrance. The first oil well produced petroleum from 1922 to 1953. On October 22, 1926, the Dominguez Estate Company was founded with Gregorio del Amo as President. Susana del Amo died in Los Angeles on January 21, 1931. Gregorio del Amo died ten years later in 1941. The couple had no natural children, but had two adopted sons. Del Amo Boulevard in Torrance is named for this family.
Maria de los Reyes Dominguez was the youngest daughter of Manuel Dominguez. She was born January 6, 1847; just four days before American troops captured the pueblo of Los Angeles ending the Mexican War in California. She too married while in her forties in 1892. Her husband was John Fillmore Francis, who was born in Iowa in 1850. He was an Indian fighter, a trader, a shipping clerk and a purchasing agent who spent three years at sea. He settled in Los Angeles in 1888 and became involved in banking and real estate. Francis and his bride moved into a home he built at 905 South Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles. John Francis died of a heart attack on July 4, 1902 leaving Reyes a widow. Her shares of the rancho were scattered in the far northern and western regions. She also had property on Dominguez Hill which made her substantially wealthier when oil was discovered there in the 1920s. Due to her immense wealth, she had to pay more income taxes than any other woman in the United States. At the time of her death on June 4, 1933, her estate was worth $15,000,000. Having no children, she left her estate to the Dominguez Estate Company. She was the last direct descendant of the illustrious Dominguez family.
In an industrial area east of the Dominguez adobe between Compton Creek and the Los Angeles River, there is a series of streets bearing the first names of the daughters of Manuel Dominguez. One street is named Las Hermanas, which in Spanish means "the sisters".
Land sales of Rancho San Pedro were somewhat restricted following the partition of 1885. Although some transactions were conducted, the land in question was not the most desirable to the Dominguez family. Later, as land prices grew in value, the Dominguez heirs began to sell tracts of the family ranch. In 1887, Daniel Freeman and Henry Ainsworth began buying land at the western coastal edge of the rancho from Guadalupe, Reyes and Susana Dominguez. They acquired 433 acres known as the Ocean Tract for $12,000. They formed the Redondo Beach Development Company and laid out the town of Redondo Beach. The beach side town was incorporated as a city on April 29, 1892.
On April 13, 1892, the Dominguez heirs sold the Rattlesnake Island to the Los Angeles and Terminal Island Railroad Company. Rattlesnake Island was known as such because it was home to a large population of rattlesnakes who migrated down the Los Angeles River. The named was changed to Terminal Island by the railroad company because of the terminus of the rail line established there.
On May 31, 1911, the Dominguez Estate Company sold 2,791 acres of the rancho to Pasadena developer, Jared Sidney Torrance. The consideration for the property was $976,850. Susana Dominguez del Amo sold an additional 730 acres to Torrance for $350 per acre. The land was subdivided and grew to become the city of Torrance in 1912.
Gradually over the next thirty years, the Dominguez Estate Company sold several tracts of the old rancho. Towns and communities started to spring up on the vast acreage which once belonged to Juan Jose Dominguez. John Manuel Carson, the son of George and Victoria Carson, was influential in the development of the cities of Redondo Beach, Torrance, Gardena , and the unincorporated community of Carson. He and his uncle Gregorio del Amo were directors of the Dominguez Estate Company. On February 11, 1911, they established the Dominguez Water Company bringing water service to the area by drilling artesian wells and building pumping stations. In 1967, the Dominguez Estate Company liquidated its assets after negotiating the largest real estate transaction in the history of Southern California at the time. The company sold off over 1,600 acres of original Dominguez land grant for $58,500,000.
Following the death of Dona Maria Engracia Dominguez, her surviving daughters divided among themselves the seventeen-acre homestead, including the Dominguez Ranch adobe. Guadalupe Dominguez, who never married, continued to live at the adobe until her death in 1913. Dolores Dominguez de Watson, who remained a widow for fifty-five years, lived at the family adobe from 1913 until her death in 1924. On October 24, 1924, a Catholic Order known as the Claretian Missionaries was deeded the Homestead Tract. The Claretians were founded in Spain in 1849 and came to California in 1907. They assumed control over the parishes of the San Gabriel Mission and the Old Plaza Church in Los Angeles. Since there were no male heirs to carry on the Dominguez name, the homestead was a gift to the religious order.
The Claretians established the Dominguez Memorial Seminary upon the property and began instructing prospective Claretian priests within the adobe. The house was converted to classrooms, but two rooms were set aside as living quarters. The priests maintained the adobe and the grounds during their occupation of the house. In 1927, the Del Amo family were instrumental in building the large two story seminary facilities just west of the old adobe. The bodies of Gregorio and Susana Del Amo are entombed in the crypt of the seminary chapel.
On April 25, 1945, the California Parlor of the Native Daughters of the Golden West placed a plaque recognizing the historical significance of the Dominguez Adobe and it became State Historic Landmark #152.
In 1965, the old adobe was showing its age and was in need of restoration. Father Patrick McPolin, who studied at the Dominguez Seminary when it was first established, led the restoration effort. Dominguez descendants from the Carson, Del Amo and Watson families donated antique furniture to fill the interior rooms.
From 1883 to 1925 some structural alterations were done to the old Dominguez home in an attempt to modernize it. The original shape was changed from an "L" to a "U" configuration. Additions to the west side were made of wood framing, brick facades, plaster and stucco. In the 1920s, the Mission Revival style of architecture became prevalent in Southern California. A red tile roof replaced the original roof. Mission style arches aligned the west side "corredor" which faced a beautiful courtyard with a fountain. White stucco facades resembling a mission campanario (bell tower) adorned the rear entrance as well as the ends of the north and south wings which extended toward Dominguez Hill.
Today, the original six-room adobe structure built by Manuel Dominguez has been expanded to eight rooms. The main section of the house is long with a low roof stretching over a corredor on the east side. The east side of the adobe was originally the front of the house. The old front door is situated in the center of the lengthy section. Slender wood posts support the overhang of the red tiled roof. Potted plants sit next to each post and some hang from the corredor ceiling. The adobe walls are plastered over and painted a bright white. Iron bars are affixed to the outer windows along the east side. Don Manuel had them installed because he traveled frequently and they gave him a sense of security as he left his wife and six daughters home alone. The slope of the hill descends from the house toward Alameda Street. There is a well kept lawn with palms, olives and other trees arranged around this side of the adobe.
The west side displays the later additions and alterations. Today, this side is used as the entrance. From this perspective, the house gives the appearance of a Spanish mission rather than an adobe hacienda. Wide arches partially expose the corredor within the interior of the "U" of the house. A low wall encloses the courtyard with the exception of an arched facade in the center. On the outer wall of the facade, a state plaque is mounted which commemorates the Battle of Dominguez Ranch that occurred on October 8th and 9th, 1846. In the center of the courtyard is a beautiful mission style fountain. The encompassing area is decorated with a variety of trees, flowers and shrubs. West of the courtyard is an exquisite rose garden with a striking white statue of the Virgin Mary. Across the parking lot adjacent to the rose garden is the current seminary building built in 1927. There is a large cactus garden north of the adobe, while an old windmill stands to the south of the structure.
The interior of the house is furnished with nineteenth century furniture donated by the heirs of Don Manuel Dominguez. Three bedrooms contain furniture and items belonging to the Carson, Del Amo and Watson families. Two rooms contain bedroom furniture that was owned by Manuel Dominguez. Some of his clothing, photos, documents and ranch paraphernalia are displayed throughout the house. Hardwood floors are in each room except the kitchen, which is covered by large squared mission tiles.
The family sitting room contains a chapel with an altar, pews, religious statues and an organ. Over the alter is a stained glass window with the inscription; "Dominguez 1826", indicating the year the family homestead was built. The chapel was used by the Dominguez family as an alternative to traveling twelve long and dusty miles to the old plaza church in the pueblo of Los Angeles. Priests from the church and the San Gabriel Mission would come to the ranch to conduct Mass at the in-home chapel.
One room of the adobe museum contains a unique display featuring a special event of world interest, which took place on the fields of Rancho San Pedro. From January 10 through 20, 1910, the famous Dominguez Air Meet was held at the rancho. At the time, aviation was in its infancy and this contest of aeronautical skill was the first of its kind in the world. Over 200,000 spectators attended the ten-day competition and witnessed world records set by international pilots of early "aeroplanes", balloons and dirigibles. The present California State University Dominguez Hills at 1000 East Victoria Street in Carson was the site of the Dominguez Air Meet. A monument honoring this world class event was dedicated in 1941. Another monument was dedicated on Dominguez Hill near 190th Street and Wilmington Avenue on January 24, 1960.
The Dominguez Ranch adobe is currently a museum dedicated to the life and times of Don Manuel Dominguez and his heirs who carried on the rich traditions of the early Spanish colonial rancho well into the twentieth century. The marshy cienegas, flowing fields, and rolling hills of Rancho San Pedro have been transformed into neighborhood homes, schools, shopping malls, business districts, industrial areas, oil refineries, and a major international harbor. The 170-year-old adobe is probably one of the best preserved and visually appealing historic building in California.
Rancho San Pedro
Dominguez Ranch Adobe
18127 S. Alameda St., Compton, CA 90220
Map
310 631-5981
Open the the public
Tours of the adobe home are given on the hour on Wednesday and Sunday 1, 2 and 3 p.m.
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Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County © 1997 John R. Kielbasa
Unless otherwise noted, photos 