1821 - 1848:  Mexican Independence and Privatization of the Ranchos

The Hugo Reid Family by Preston Prescott, c.1937
Source: Wikimedia Commons

After 300 years of Spanish rule the Mexican War Of Independence resulted in Mexico becoming a sovereign nation in 1821, and the land of New Spain being reorganized into the Mexican Empire. Following the passage of the Mexican Secularization Act of 1833, the Ranchos and much of the church's land was put up for sale. In order to encourage development land grants were also awarded.

Hugo Reid was a Scottish-born trader who first visited California in the early 1830's. Reid wrote articles critical of the church and its treatment of the Tongva; he soon married a Tongva woman named Victoria and became a naturalized Mexican citizen. By 1839 he had built a small adobe on Rancho Santa Anita where he lived with Victoria and their children, allowing him to receive a grant for the Rancho in 1841, which was confirmed in 1845 by California governor Pio Pico.

The Mexican-American war began in 1846. In 1847 Reid sold Rancho Santa Anita to Henry Dalton, owner of the adjacent Rancho Azusa, for $2700 (approximately $95,000 adjusted for inflation).

Reid's adobe is represented by the Reid-Baldwin Adobe located at modern-day 107 S. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, on the grounds of the L.A. County Arboretum.  It was once believed to be original but later determined to be a replica; recent research has shown that the actual Reid family adobe was likely located at modern-day 1475 Charlton Rd., San Marino.