William and Lewis Wolfskill

Rancho Santa Anita Owners 1865 - 1872 (American Period)

William Wolfskill was born in Kentucky on March 20, 1798 to Joseph and Sarah (Reid) Wolfskill. In 1808, the Wolfskill family went to Howard County, Missouri.

Wolfskill moved to New Mexico in 1821 while the region was a province of Mexico called Santa Fe de Nuevo México. He spent ten years fur trapping for beaver and buying herds of cattle, which he sent to eastern markets, in the New Mexico area the fur trade was highly lucrative. In 1828 he became a naturalized Mexican citizen.

Wolfskill left Santa Fe in 1831 with a group of about twenty men. The trek across the desert brought them to the San Bernardino Mountains and crossed through what is now Cajon Pass. They enjoyed the welcome shelter of Mission San Gabriel, where visitors were always given food and lodging. The travelers then went on to the town of Los Angeles. He acquired a grant of four square leagues in what is now Yolo and Solano counties.

In 1836 he returned to Los Angeles to settle purchasing a 100 acre lot. His property was situated between 4th and 6th Streets, east of Alameda Street to the Los Angeles River in what is now the heart of Los Angeles. He planted commercial vineyards on his Los Angeles ranch; land that now includes the Downtown Arts District. He was one of the leading vineyardists in California. He set out his first vine in 1838. At the time of his death, he was producing 50,000 gallons of wine a year and was the greatest producer of table grapes during that period. He has been named by historians as one of the three most important men in the history of California viticulture.

In January 1841, Wolfskill married Dona Magdaleno Lugo, daughter of Don Jose Ygnacio Lugo of Santa Barbara. On May 24th of the following year, Governor Juan Bautista de Alvarado granted the land which encompassed over 17,750 acres to Wolfskill. He owned large tracts of land throughout the region, which he used for everything from sheep grazing to orange groves. One of the wealthiest men in his time, he is also celebrated for developing the Valencia orange. In April 1857, Wolfskill planted several thousand orange trees and so established what was to be, for that time, the largest orange orchard in the United States. He is credited with starting the commercial citrus industry by selling a shipload of lemons to the gold miners for up to $1 apiece, and shipping oranges to the mining areas the following year.

Santa Anita

In 1865, Wolfskill purchased the then 11,319 acre Rancho Santa Anita for $20,000. He experimented in raising eucalyptus trees from seeds sent to him by a friend in Australia and was one of the first to grow a tree of this kind in California. He planted five specimens outside the adobe home, which still stands today. Unfortunately, he died the following year.

The Santa Anita Rancho, along with the Azusa Rancho, was willed to his son, Lewis, who was married to Louisa Dalton (daughter of former Rancho Santa Anita owner, Henry Dalton). Lewis held extensive interests in ranching, mining, real estate, and other business ventures. He continued to manage the ranchos, but sold Santa Anita in 1872 to Harris Newmark for $85,000.