TWHP


Los Angeles, The Plaza   

After Governor of the Californias Felipe de Neve decreed in 1781 that an agricultural colony needed to be established to support the missions of Upper California, 44 destitute Mexicans comprising 11 families trekked north from Sinaloa, Mexico, and established the pueblo of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles--Our Lady of the Angels--before the year expired. None could read or write, prospects were nil at home, and in addition to free land, they were entitled to a small stipend to assist in the fresh start on the banks of the newly christened Los Angeles River. Within a couple of years, the rude stick-and-mud huts of the first days were replaced by houses of adobe, several public buildings had been constructed, and a church was underway. Over the next decade, soldiers released from active service settled in the town, and by its end the population approached 200. Under the control of an alcalde--a combination military commander and mayor--the town grew and prospered, herds of cattle and sheep multiplying prolifically, crops of corn enlarging year by year, tens of thousands of grape vines growing..

Across the ensuing several decades into the early 1800s, the pueblo grew slowly and steadily, governed by ever-shifting administrations reflecting its status as a distant outpost and the political convolutions in the capitols of Spain and Mexico. The latter gained independence in 1821, and by the 1830s a legislature came into being. Intrigues in Mexico City, local rivalries among prominent families and a restive populace accustomed to being left alone led to occasional eruptions, and new governors discovered that a heavy or incompetent hand could result in local insurrection not easily subdued, and several resigned their posts under pressure.

Even though Los Angeles was named the new capitol of Upper California in 1836, locals did little to exploit the designation, and it remained in Monterey. The first American trappers had begun to visit in substantial numbers early in the decade, and by its end, Yankee settlers arrived in a steady stream. With the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846 and the realization that an effective defense was futile, the civil authorities abandoned the settlement for Mexico, and Commodore Robert Stockton of the United States Navy took possession, accompanied by John Fremont, in California exploring the West on behalf of the Army.

Taking the town without resistence, the first military commander of the town inflamed the residents with his arbitrary dictates, and a minor rebellion resulted. By 1848 and the end of the war, however, the situation had cooled off, the new American administration interfered little as a Mexican-American town council governed, and the most prominent Californios ruled alongside Yankee newcomers.

The town continued as an agricultural stronghold, growing slowly as Northern California boomed with the Gold Rush, yet supplying its needs with cattle and wheat. By 1880 it still had a small population of 12,000, while San Francisco pushed 200,000. With the coming of the railroads in the '80s and 90s and the development of citrus crops, the region exploded with growth, and by the end of the 19th Century was prepared to compete with the City for population, commerce and industry.


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