1771 - 1821:  Indigenous Tongva; Mission San Gabriel Arcángel


Tongva Villages, c.1700
Credit: Sutimiv-Pa'alat

Home to the Tongva people for millennia, the area that was to become known as Michillinda Park was among the villages of Akuranga (La Presa), Aleupkinga (Santa Anita), and Sisitkanonga (Northeast Pasadena).

Spanish colonialists arrived in 1769 and began establishing the Missions. Portions of the area were also divided into Ranchos, which were then granted in order to encourage agricultural development in support of the Missions.


Misión San Gabriel Arcángel (1771)
by Ferdinand Deppe, 1828

Mission San Gabriel was founded in September 1771 on El Camino Real (modern day: 428 S. Mission Rd., San Gabriel) . With the area surrounding the Mission designated as public land, the area to the northeast partitioned for farming was christened Rancho Santa Anita, and included modern day Michillinda Park.

Over the next century agriculture would become central to life in the area, with the Mission farming wheat, corn, legumes, fruit groves and cattle throughout Rancho Santa Anita.


Spanish Ranchos
Credit: Title Insurance and Trust Company

Using modern landmarks, the approximate corners of the Rancho were:


Called Gabrieleños by the Spanish, many Tongva embraced Christianity and the new agrarian society. However, many others were displaced or killed by colonialists. The Tongva language was last spoken in the early 1900s; as of 2021 the population are approximately 3900.