No horses so fast, no cattle so fine, no land so fertile, no rancho more
famous than the Rancho San Antonio. No family more prominent, no
hospitality more welcome or as freely partaken, no hacienda more lovely,
happy or prosperous than that of the Lugos.
Antonio Maria Lugo received the grant of the rancho from the King of
Spain in 1810 and for fifty years thereafter this old Spanish Don and
his sons were the sole owners of its 29,514 acres, adjoining the
original pueblo grant of the City of Los Angeles on the southeast.
The Lugos saw the rise of the Mission chain to the height of its glory,
then the passing of Spanish control and the rise of Mexico, the breaking
up of the Mission chain, the fall of Mexico and the coming of the Stars
and Stripes. Wars and governments came and passed and the Lugo family
stood them all and kept their rancho intact. They built a wonderful
adobe in the pueblo of Los Angeles facing the Plaza directly opposite
the church and there the social life of the city centered.
But American ways and American prosperity they could not stand and as
the County grew, bit by bit they lost their vast rancho by sale,
foreclosure and litigation.
In 1865 the Sheriff sold the home place of Vicente Lugo, one of the
sons, for a consideration of less than $1.00 an acre. With the
conveyance went a large wooden house constructed by the younger Lugo,
one of the first wooden houses in the County. In 1883 Jonathan S.
Slauson, founder of Azusa and for whom Slauson Avenue is named,
purchased the land constituting what had been the home place for $200 an
acre. In 1910 the heirs of Slauson sold the land for $500 an acre.
In 1927 part of this land was sold for a consideration of $7,000 an acre
for the site of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company’s plant. Only the
cluster of trees now shows where the great wooden house once stood while
hundreds of workmen pass daily over the paths and gardens of the noble
Don Vicente.
On other parts of the rancho have been built Huntington Park, Vernon,
Walnut Park, South Gate and Lynwood, all prosperous communities. The
original adobe house of Antonio Maria Lugo is yet standing on Baker
Avenue opposite the Southern California Edison Company’s Power Station
and near the Union Plant of the Consolidated Steel Corporation.
The Lugos builded well and both the hacienda and the city home on the
plaza are still in good condition. Both should be landmarked and
properly preserved—testimony to the finest in life and honor in the days
of the Dons.
[Illustration: _No Hacienda More Lovely Than That of the Lugos on
the Rancho San Antonio_]