Villa de Branciforte
| Villa de Branciforte | |
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| Location | Santa Cruz, California |
| Coordinates | 36°59′00″N 122°01′00″W / 36.983333°N 122.016667°WCoordinates: 36°59′00″N 122°01′00″W / 36.983333°N 122.016667°W |
| Reference no. | 469 |
 Location of Villa de Branciforte in California
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Branciforte, originally named Villa de Branciforte, was the last of only three secular pueblos founded by the Spanish colonial government of Alta California. The pueblo was established in 1797 on the eastern bluff of the San Lorenzo River, facing Mission Santa Cruz on the west side of the river. The pueblo never prospered, and the area was annexed into the city of Santa Cruz, California in 1905.
The present day Branciforte Small Schools Campus (BSSC) building is located at what was the center of the Villa de Branciforte. A California State historical marker, number 469, is located outside of the building, too, at the corner of Water Street and Branciforte Avenue.
Villa de Branciforte was founded under the direction of California Governor Diego de Borica in memory of a Viceroy of New Spain, Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca, 1st Marquis of Branciforte, and was founded as part of Spain's strategy to protect upper California against other European countries such as Russia, England, and France. Its original civilian population was not bound to the church or the military. Unlike the Spanish missions, the villa was secular.
From its very inception in 1797 the Villa met with great obstacles. The funds were not adequate, and the enterprise failed to attract any retired soldiers. In their stead, a motley group of convicts who were banished from New Spain formed the initial group of colonists, and although the missionaries at Mission Santa Cruz protested bitterly against this pueblo being situated so close to their domain, the town received official backing.
The first eight settlers came from Guadalajara, Jalisco, New Spain (Spanish colonial Mexico). They found nothing of what they had been promised. Expecting to find the town already built to accommodate them, they found they had to build their own rough dwellings with little tools or provisions. In the end the Villa de Branciforte never resembled the neatly laid out plans for streets and buildings its planners envisioned. Furthermore, it never lived up to its expectations, and in 1802, the town itself lost the support of the Crown, and supplies ceased to arrive.
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