Escondido, CA
About Escondido, CA
Escondido was originally settled by Native American tribes. Spain controlled the land from the late 1700s to the early 1800s, and established many missions in California to convert the indigenous people. When Mexico gained its independence from Spain, the local land was divided into large "ranchos". The land that would become Escondido was Rancho Rincon del Diablo, a land grant that was given to Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1843 by the Mexican governor.
In 1846, war broke out between the United States and Mexico, and a key battle was fought in the area just south of Escondido. Known as the Battle of San Pasqual, it pitted Mexican Andrés Pico (the brother of then California governor Pío Pico) against Americans Kearny, Gillespie, and Kit Carson. A large park in Escondido is named for Carson.
The city was home to a large Spanish-speaking population in the first census back in 1850, but after the US won the war, non-Hispanic settlers came to Southern California in increasing numbers. The decade of the 1880s is known as the "Southern California Land Boom" because so many people were moving to the state.
Curated by danlatorre
