La Casa Primera de Rancho San Jose
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Casa Primera de Rancho San Jose
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Casa Primera de Rancho San Jose, August 2008
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| Location | 1569 N. Park Ave., Pomona, California |
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| Coordinates | 34°04′31″N 117°45′18″W / 34.075214°N 117.755078°WCoordinates: 34°04′31″N 117°45′18″W / 34.075214°N 117.755078°W |
| Area | 1.6 acres (0.65 ha) |
| Built | 1837 |
| NRHP Reference # | 75000436 |
| Added to NRHP | April 3, 1975 |
La Casa Primera de Rancho San Jose is a historic adobe structure built in 1837 in Pomona, California. It is the oldest home located in the Pomona Valley and in the old Rancho San Jose land grant. It was declared a historic landmark in 1954 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1975.
The Rancho San Jose was created out of land seized from the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in 1834 as part of the Mexican government's decree of secularization. In 1837, Mexican Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado granted the land to Ygnacio Palomares and Ricardo Vejar. The Rancho, covering 15,000 acres (61 km2) to 22,000 acres (89 km2) and much of eastern Los Angeles County, was operated by Palomares and Vejar as a sheep and cattle ranch.
After receiving the land grant, Palomares built his initial adobe homestead in 1837 on land that is now part of Pomona. The simple five-room adobe, which is known as the Casa Primera, was the first home in the Pomona Valley and was built in the Mexican adobe style with thick walls made of adobe brick. Palomares and his family lived at the Casa Primera for approximately seventeen years. Between 1850 and 1855, Palomares built a much larger adobe home for himself, known as the Ygnacio Palomares Adobe.
In 1867, Palomares' son, Francisco Palomares, moved into the Casa Primera with his wife, Lujardo Alvarado. Francisco discovered an artesian well on the grounds of the adobe, the first such well discovered in the Pomona Valley. The well provided an ample supply of water, allowing Francisco to plant the area with orange trees, some of which were still thriving in the 1970s. Taking advantage of the area's water resources, Francisco and his partners also formed the Old Settlement Water Company in 1874. Portions of an old stone-lined canal built by the water company can still be seen in the area. Francisco Palomares lived in the Casa Primera until he died in 1882.
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