Descriptive Summary
Administration Information
History of the Rancho San Pedro
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Bibliography
Related Material
Separated Materials
Descriptive Summary
Title: Rancho San Pedro Collection
Dates: 1769-1972
Bulk: 1900-1960
Collection Number: Consult repository.
Collector:
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Extent:
301 boxes,
[155 linear ft.]
Repository: California State University, Dominguez Hills
Archives and Special Collections
Archives & Special Collection
University Library, Room G-145
1000 E. Victoria Street
Carson, California 90747
Phone: (310) 243-3013
URL: http://www.csudh.edu/archives/csudh/index.html
Abstract:
This collection contains legal and business papers related to the Rancho San Pedro
and to its owners, the Dominguez family. The Spanish crown gave the Southern California
lands of the Rancho San Pedro to Juan Jose Dominguez in 1784, and in 1858 the United
States government granted a patent confirming Dominguez family ownership of the Rancho.
A few items predate the 1858 patent, but the bulk of the collection is from 1880-1960.
Some materials concern the Rancho San Pedro itself, including partitions of land among
family members, farming, oil and water development, and legal issues with neighboring
cities, including Los Angeles and Long Beach. Much of the collection comprises records
of the business, water, and real estate companies established by Dominguez heirs in and
around the Los Angeles area.
Language: Collection material is in English
Administration Information
Access
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives
and Special Collections.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the
physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Title of item], Rancho San Pedro Collection, Courtesy of the Department of Archives and Special Collections. University Library.
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Acquisition Information
The materials in the Rancho San Pedro Collection arrived in two major accessions.
Approximately 110 linear feet of materials had been stored in the boiler room of the
Dominguez Water Corporation, and were passed to California State University, Dominguez Hills
in the early 1970s. In 2006, the Carson Companies donated approximately 25 linear feet of materials.
Many of the materials in the Rancho San Pedro Collection were used by Robert Gillingham and Judson Grenier as research for
Gillinghams’s
The Rancho San Pedro,
his history of the Rancho San Pedro and the Dominguez family.
Processing Information
Materials in this collection were partially processed and foldered during inventories in
1987 and 1994. Final processing was completed in 2006.
Project Information
This finding aid was created as part of Early Los Angeles/Rancho San Pedro
Manuscript Cataloging Project, a CSU Dominguez Hills Library project funded by the National
Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project started in 2005. Project
Director was Greg Williams. Project Archivists were Thomas Philo and Jennifer Allan
Goldman.
History of the Rancho San Pedro
Biography/Organization History
The materials in the Rancho San Pedro Collection document the history and development
of the Rancho San Pedro, one of the original Spanish California land grants. Juan Jose
Dominguez, a soldier in the King’s army, received the Southern California land grant in
1784, largely as a reward for his years of service in California. Unlike many original
owners of Spanish grants, Dominguez and his heirs managed to retain ownership of the
Rancho San Pedro through the decades as California moved from Spanish to Mexican to
United States rule. Of over seventy Spanish and Mexican land grants, the Rancho San
Pedro was the first to be granted a clear patent by the United States government.
In its original form, the grant given to Juan Jose Dominguez comprised over 75,000 acres,
extending from San Pedro Harbor to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, then eastward as far as
modern-day Lynwood. Following Juan Jose’s death, the Dominguez family had to constantly
fight off legal challenges to their ownership of the Rancho. A complex arrangement with
the Sepulveda family allowed them to claim a large portion of the property; after several
court decisions and appeals, over 31,000 acres of Palos Verdes land was awarded to the
Sepulvedas in 1846. By 1858, following further land sales and purchases, the size of the
Rancho San Pedro was approximately 26,000 acres. In that year, the U.S. government granted
the Dominguez family a patent for the land, establishing them as owners of the Rancho San
Pedro under United States law. Rancho San Pedro land, as described by the patent, was
bounded by the modern-day cities of Long Beach, Wilmington, Compton, and Redondo Beach.
Juan Jose Dominguez built a home and herded cattle on the property until his death in 1809.
When Juan Jose died childless, primary ownership of the land passed to his nephew, Jose
Cristobal Dominguez, who held the land until 1825. After his death, the land was divided
among his six children. In addition to managing the Rancho, the oldest son, Manuel, began
to purchase the land left to his brothers and sisters. He ultimately consolidated ownership
of the entire Rancho San Pedro, and he would remain owner for almost sixty years. In
addition to being a major property owner Rancho, Manuel Dominguez became a prominent figure
as the nearby settlement of Los Angeles moved from being a small pueblo to a frontier town
to a thriving city. Dominguez held a number of public positions in Los Angeles, including
mayor, justice of the peace, and supervisor, and he was a delegate to the first California
constitutional convention in 1849. During this time, Manuel Dominguez created a
relationship between the Rancho San Pedro and the city of Los Angeles that would continue
long after his death in 1882.
When Manuel Dominguez died, the land passed first to his wife; following her death a short time
later, the land of the Rancho San Pedro was divided among his six daughters: Ana Josefa Juliana
Dominguez de Guyer, Guadalupe Marcelina Dominguez, Dolores
Simona Dominguez de Watson, Maria Victoria Dominguez de Carson, Susana Delfina Dominguez
del Amo, and Maria Jesus de los Reyes Dominguez de Francis. After initial efforts at
determining equitable land distribution among the sisters failed, the family asked the Los
Angeles Superior Court to evaluate and formally partition the land. This partition, which
went into effect in 1885, divided the Rancho according to a complicated scheme giving the
daughters not merely equal amounts of land, but equitable types of acreage (farmland, river
land, swamp, oceanfront, etc.), meaning that each daughter owned pieces of land throughout the
Rancho.
With this division of the Rancho San Pedro lands, the business interests became
increasingly diverse. Some companies, such as the Dominguez Estate Company and Dominguez
Water Company, were formed in service to the entire Rancho, while others served interests
of specific families, such as the Watson Land Company, the Francis Land Company, the Del
Amo Estate Company, and the Carson Estate Company. Even when the Dominguez heirs formed
separate companies, however, these companies remained tightly interconnected, with members
of the extended family often serving on boards or as executives. In some cases, as with
lawyer Henry O’Melveny or Chief Engineer George Hand, employees, lawyers, and advisors
performed services for multiple family-related companies at the same time.
The land’s proximity to Los Angeles, Los Angeles harbor, and ever-growing neighboring
cities made it inevitable that the Rancho San Pedro would be inextricably linked with them.
In 1912 Los Angeles purchased the “Shoestring Strip,” a narrow strip of land running
through the Rancho San Pedro, thus creating a viable link between Los Angeles and its
harbor. The rail line constructed on the Shoestring Strip allowed traffic to and from the
port and opened the door to the region’s explosive industrial growth in the twentieth
century. As the cities surrounding the Rancho San Pedro grew, it was inevitable that the
heirs of Manuel Dominguez would need to negotiate easements, rights of way, and municipal
and industrial property rights. In 1925-1928, the City of Long Beach attempted to annex
both Davidson City, a development on the eastern side of the Rancho, along with nearby
Rancho properties. The various Dominguez family-related companies worked together to
defeat the initiative, even threatening to incorporate Davidson City a separate city.
Oil companies operating on the Rancho San Pedro joined forces with the family companies,
and the move to annex Davidson City was defeated by a narrow margin.
The Rancho San Pedro was initially devoted solely to ranching. While the various
companies diversified the focus of the Dominguez heirs to include nurseries, real estate,
and water management, tenant farming remained a vital part of Rancho San Pedro life
throughout the first half of the century. Tenant farmers on Rancho lands included a large
number who were of Japanese or Chinese descent. From the California Alien Land Act of
1913 to the evacuation of the Japanese during World War II, these tenants faced laws
restricting where they lived and their right to lease land. Tenants and the Rancho landlords
dealt with a number of issues related to the laws, including gathering birth certificates
or other documents to prove tenants’ American citizenship, or writing letters of
recommendation on tenants’ behalf to War Relocation Boards.
In the early decades of the twentieth century, the lands around the Rancho San Pedro were
found to be oil rich. In 1920, oil was discovered first on property belonging to the Del
Amo family, and the first producing oil well was drilled there in 1921. This opened the
door to oil exploration throughout the Rancho San Pedro, and before long the Rancho became
one of the major petroleum centers in the United States, with over twenty oil companies
holding oil production leases on Dominguez family lands.
At the same time that the oil industry was discovering the Rancho San Pedro, the
influence of other Dominguez family businesses was extending beyond the borders of the
Rancho. While the Dominguez Water Company was originally formed to generate the water
needs of the Rancho and nearby Compton, it was reincorporated as the Dominguez Water
Company in 1937 and become a public utility in 1940. With its connection to the Los
Angeles Metropolitan Water District, the Dominguez Water Corporation helped fuel the
explosive growth of both residential and industrial centers in and around Los Angeles.
From the late 1920s to the 1950s, other affiliated companies, such as the
Dominguez-Wilshire Corporation and the Beverly-Arnaz Company, were important in developing
and vitalizing business districts and some of the first major subdivisions in Los Angeles.
From its origins in agriculture to its growing involvement in oil, water, industry, and
residential development, the history of the Rancho San Pedro parallels that of Southern
California itself, and the Dominguez family-related companies helped steer many of the
economic forces that shaped the region throughout the twentieth century.
Company Histories
The Rancho San Pedro Collection contains records documenting a number of Dominguez
family-related companies. While they existed in the context of the Rancho San Pedro, and
they were inextricably bound to each other, they were also nonetheless organized as
separate entities. A brief history of each follows:
Dominguez Estate Company
The will of Ana Josefa Juliana Dominguez de Guyer divided her estate among her sisters.
The sisters decided to form a corporation that would manage the de Guyer estate, with each
sister receiving equal shares. The Dominguez Estate Company was incorporated in 1910.
Dominguez daughter Marcelina also donated her share of Rancho holdings to the Dominguez
Estate Company a year before her death in 1913. Headed by Henry O’Melveny, the Dominguez
Estate Company became the largest and most diverse of the family-related companies, dealing
in oil production, land and water management, real estate, and stock and bond investment.
Operations on the Rancho San Pedro lands remained of paramount importance, and the
Dominguez Estate Company managed leases to farmers, and also negotiated with officials,
municipalities, and companies in matters regarding easements, rights of way, and land
purchases.
Dominguez-Wilshire Company
The Dominguez Estate Company (along with the Dominguez Water Company) was initially
headquartered in the Title Insurance Building in downtown Los Angeles. In 1929, the
company purchased property at 5410 Wilshire Boulevard, in the booming Los Angeles business
district known as the Miracle Mile. The Dominguez-Wilshire Company was incorporated that
year to oversee construction of the Dominguez-Wilshire Building, and then to manage the
building and rent office and retail space. The Dominguez Wilshire Company was dissolved
in 1936, with the Dominguez Estate Company taking over the management of the building and
tenancy. In 1944, the company was reincorporated as the Dominguez-Wilshire Corporation. It resumed
management of the building, and stayed in existence until 1958, when it voluntarily
dissolved, and its assets transferred to the Dominguez Estate Company.
Wilshire-New Hampshire Company
While the Dominguez-Wilshire Company was established to manage rentals at the
Dominguez-Wilshire Building, the Wilshire-New Hampshire Company was incorporated in 1948
to develop and manage other properties, particularly an office building in the 600 block
of New Hampshire Avenue in Los Angeles. The directors included Dominguez family members
H. H. Cotton, H. H. Jarrett, and Edward A. Carson. The Wilshire-New Hampshire Company was
in existence for three years; in 1951 it was voluntarily dissolved, and its assets absorbed
into the Dominguez Estate Company.
Dominguez Water Corporation
When water engineer William Mulholland determined that there were extensive water
reservoirs under Rancho lands, the Dominguez Water Company was established in 1911 as a
means to distribute water to all parts of the Rancho. Headed by lawyer Henry O’Melveny,
the company also supplied the water needs of the nearby town of Compton. While never
profitable, the Dominguez Water Company remained in operation until 1936, when the
Dominguez Estate Company bought it out, then reincorporated it in 1937 as the Dominguez
Water Corporation. In 1940, the Dominguez Water Corporation became a public utility,
eventually moved its headquarters to Long Beach, and began to greatly expand service.
Carson Estate Company
The Carson Estate Company was informally established in 1901 following the death of
George Carson, then formally incorporated in 1914, with Victoria de Carson as President
and her children as directors (along with son-in-law H. H. Cotton, who was elected
secretary). The Company initially intended to raise money through the leasing and sale of
land, but with the discovery of oil on Rancho property, the articles of incorporation were
amended in 1924 to permit oil drilling on the Carson property. Farming, land management,
and oil production would continue to be the primary concerns of the Carson Estate Company.
Francis Companies
The Francis Land Company was incorporated in 1928 to help manage the Rancho San Pedro
holdings of Maria de los Reyes Dominguez de Francis. De Francis was widowed and had no
children of her own, and she wished to distribute her wealth to members of the extended
family without imposing heavy tax burdens. Her lawyer and confidant, Henry O’Melveny,
organized the company to have close and complex ties with the other family-related
companies, particularly the Dominguez Estate Company, the Carson Land Company, and the
Watson Land Company. Following de Francis’s death, the assets of the Francis Land Company,
largely held by the Carson Land and Watson Land companies, were transferred to the
Dominguez Estate Company. The complexity of the issues surrounding both the de Francis
Estate and the Francis Land Company made resolution problematic, and it would take years
of legal maneuvering before both were settled. The Francis Land Company continued to
exist as a subsidiary of the Dominguez Estate Company until 1944, when it was dissolved,
though all assets were not liquidated until 1951.
Reyes-Dominguez Company
While the Francis Land Company accounted for the bulk of the de Francis estate, Mrs.
de Francis retained ownership of nearly $3.5 million worth of municipal bonds. In 1932,
O’Melveny incorporated another company, the Reyes-Dominguez Company, to manage these
assets, largely through the purchase and sale of bonds and securities. In 1936, the
Reyes-Dominguez Estate Company began the process of liquidating its assets; like the
Francis Land Company, however, it was several years before all of these assets could be
transferred to the Dominguez Estate Company.
Watson Land Company
The Watson Estate Company was incorporated in 1912 to help protect the interests of
Dolores Simona Dominguez de Watson. While the Watson Estate Company made a steady, albeit
relatively small, income from leasing land, it broke with other Rancho-based companies in
regularly selling off small pieces of property. The company was reincorporated as the
Watson Land Company in 1927, largely as a way to have lands assessed according to richer
1920s valuations, rather than the 1913 valuation that had been used. Under reincorporation,
land sales and leases gave the Watson Land Company a sounder financial foundation. As with
other Rancho-based concerns, the Watson Land Company realized profits from sales and leases
to oil companies; throughout its history, though, the directors of the Watson Land Company
focused on the agricultural and industrial development of the land. The success of this
practice grew throughout the century, and the Watson Land Company remains one of the most
successful in Southern California.
Jarret Estate Company/Ramona Properties
Following the death of Dolores Watson Jarrett, her husband H. H. Jarrett managed their
sons’ estate until they reached legal adulthood. The estate held Dominguez and Watson
stock, and in 1937 Jarrett created the Jarrett Estate Company as a way to invest the
profits, primarily in real estate. In 1937, the name of the company was changed to Ramona
Properties. In 1939-1940, Ramona Properties purchased lots from the Francis Land Company
in what was to become Cheviot Knolls, one of the first major Los Angeles subdivisions.
Beverly-Arnaz Company
In 1939, H. H. Cotton and H. H. Jarrett headed a syndicate formed to purchase property
known as the Arnaz Tract from the Marblehead Land Company, owned by Malibu heir and Los
Angeles benefactress Rhoda Rindge Adamson. In April, 1939, the syndicate incorporated as
the Beverly-Arnaz Land Company, with Cotton as President and Jarrett as Director. Also on
the board was noted Los Angeles developer Walter H. Leimert. By 1940, the Arnaz Tract was
being developed as Beverlywood, a subdivision located near Beverly Hills and what is now
Century City in the Los Angeles area. The company was voluntarily dissolved in 1946 and
its assets liquidated.
Valencia Spanish Tile Corporation
The Valencia Spanish Tile Corporation, a manufacturer of ceramic tiles, operated out of
Culver City, located near Los Angeles. Several members of the Carson family owned stock
in the corporation from the 1920s, and in 1937 Lucy Carson Rasmussen, David Carson, and
H. H. Cotton gained control of the company as principal shareholders. They were only
nominally directors, retaining former owner Charles Bausback as manager. While not
actively seeking out new business, the corporation continued to serve a number of clients
for several years.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of material related to the Rancho San Pedro, the Dominguez family, and various Southern
California companies founded by the heirs of Manuel Dominguez. These companies include
the Dominguez Estate Company, Dominguez Water Company (later Corporation),
Dominguez-Wilshire Corporation, Carson Estate Company, Francis Land Company,
Reyes-Dominguez Company, Ramona Properties, and a number of affiliated companies. The
collection traces the evolution of the Rancho San Pedro from a farm-based concern to a
major participant in oil, water, and real estate development industries.
Agricultural interests are shown through crop reports and correspondence with farms,
orchards, and tenants. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the Rancho had
a number of tenants of Japanese and Chinese descent; materials include leases and papers
related to legal issues facing these tenants, most notably the 1913 California Alien Land
Act, and the relocation of Japanese-heritage tenants to internment camps in the early
years of World War II.
The discovery of oil on Rancho San Pedro lands in 1920 and its subsequent development
as a major petroleum center is shown through extensive land appraisals, drilling leases, and
daily, monthly, and annual production and royalty reports from a number of major oil
companies. Records of interests such as the Dominguez-Wilshire Corporation and the
Beverly-Arnaz Company show how the Dominguez family interests helped vitalize retail and
residential growth in Los Angeles areas, including the Miracle Mile, Cheviot Knolls, and
Beverlywood.
The interests growing out of the Rancho San Pedro were interrelated, with family
members, employees, and lawyers often connected to multiple companies. Documents of
individual companies include personal correspondence, most notably some handwritten letters
by Dominguez family members. Correspondence with longtime employees is often of a personal
nature, with expressions of congratulations at the birth of children, sympathy over the
death of relatives, or advice regarding personal matters.
The Rancho San Pedro Collection provides a vivid illustration of Southern California life
and business in the twentieth century, and it is rich in the language and character of the
times. Along with the Dominguez family and heirs, it provides glimpses of some of the major
figures and businesses that helped shape the region’s history, including Henry O’Melveny,
Rhoda Rindge Adamson, Walter H. Leimert, and the Title Insurance and Trust Company.
Original material in the collection covers the years 1871 to 1960, though there are a few
reproductions (generally photographs or photostats) of deeds and other legal documents,
plans, and graphic materials dating from as early as 1769. The bulk of the material covers
the years ca. 1901 to 1950, the main years of business of the various family-related
companies. Much of the material is primary, including articles of incorporation, minutes
of meetings, ledgers, deeds, maps, blueprints, leases and quitclaims, business and personal
correspondence, financial and business records, tax materials, invoices, and receipts.
Arrangement
Arranged in 12 series:
-
Series I. Dominguez Family Papers, 1770-1960
-
Series II. Rancho San Pedro, 1769-1960
-
Series III. Rancho San Pedro Oil Production, 1921-1960
-
Series IV. Dominguez Water Corporation, 1912-1960
-
Series V. Jarrett Estate Company/Ramona Properties, 1936-1944
-
Series VI. Valencia Spanish Tile Corporation, 1937-1949
-
Series VII. Beverly-Arnaz Land Company, 1939-1952
-
Series VIII. Watson Land Company, 1910-1948
-
Series IX. Francis Companies, 1923-1948
-
Series X. Carson Estate Company, 1912-1954
-
Series XI. Dominguez Estate Company, 1910-1962
-
Series XII. Photographs, 1846-1969
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Aeronautics - Competitions
Alien labor
Annexation (municipal government)
Central business districts – California – Los Angeles
Corporate governance
Family-owned business enterprises
Farms – California
Housing development – California
Inheritance and transfer tax – Law and legislation
Japanese American evacuation and resettlement
Japanese American farmers – Los Angeles
Land grants – California
Oil and gas leases – California
Oil wells – California – Los Angeles
Partition of decedents’ estates
Petroleum industry and trade – California
Planned communities – California
Public utilities – California – Los Angeles
Real estate business – California – Los Angeles County
Real estate development – California – Los Angeles
Real property – valuation
Stock transfer – Law and legislation
Water supply – California
Water resources development – California – Los Angeles County
Water utilities – California – Los Angeles
World War, 1939-1945 – Law and legislation
Personal Names
Carson, George Henry
Carson, Maria Victoria Dominguez
Cohn, Kaspare
Cotton, Hamilton H.
Del Amo, Gregorio
Del Amo, Susana Delfina Dominguez
Dominguez, Manuel
Dominguez, Guadalupe Marcelina
Francis, Maria Jesus de los Reyes Dominguez de
O’Melveny, Henry John
Guyer, Ana Josefa Dominguez de
Watson, Maria Dolores Dominguez de
Corporate Names
Associated Oil Company
Beverly-Arnaz Land Company
Carson Estate Company
Chanslor-Western Oil & Development Company
Dominguez Estate Company
Dominguez Water Corporation
Dominguez-Wilshire Corporation
Francis Land Company
Jarrett Estate Company
Kaspare Cohn Commercial & Savings Bank
Walter H. Leimert Co.
Marland Oil Company
O’Melveny & Myers
Ramona Properties
Reyes-Dominguez Company
Richfield Oil Corporation
Shell Oil Company
Standard Oil Company of California
Union Bank & Trust Company of Los Angeles
Union Oil Company of California
Valencia Spanish Tile Corporation
Victory Oil Company
Watson Land Company
Wilshire-New Hampshire Corporation
Geographic Terms
California--History
Compton (Calif.)
Long Beach (Calif.)
Los Angeles (Calif.)--History
Redondo Beach (Calif.)
Torrance (Calif.)
Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Genres and Forms of Materials
Blueprints
Maps
Photographs, original
Photographic prints
Negatives
Stats
Bibliography
The following works were used in the creation of this finding aid:
Gillingham, Robert Cameron,
The Rancho San Pedro: the story of a famous Rancho
in Los Angeles County and of its owners the Dominguez family
. Los Angeles: Cole-Holmquist,
1961.
Grenier, Judson,
California legacy : the James Alexander Watson—Maria Dolores
Dominguez de Watson family 1820-1980
. Los Angeles: Watson Land Company, 1987.
Related Material
The following related collections are located in Archives & Special Collections, California
State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH).
- Del Amo Estate Company Collection
- Del Amo Foundation Collection
- Del Amo Nursery Collection
- Rancho San Pedro Collection
- Dominguez Water Corporation Collection
- Dominguez Air Meet Collection
- Rancho San Pedro Reference Collection
- South Bay History Collection
- South Bay Photograph Collection
Separated Materials
During the 2005-2006 processing, duplicate, redundant, or nonessential materials
were removed from the collection, along with items not directly related to the
Rancho San Pedro or related companies. Newspaper clippings were photocopied and discarded.