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Each of the many local cities and towns has its own unique narrative. In this offering, we’ll dig deep into the story of San Mateo.
Let’s begin with the Spanish explorers who ventured north and arrived in what would become San Mateo in 1776. Their trek was part of a scouting trip to locate a place to start a colony on the Peninsula. Lt. Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza, Padre Pedro Font and Lt. Jose Joaquin Moraga led the expedition, along with eleven soldiers and set up camp in San Mateo. Father Font, who was traveling with them, named the creek that they slept by “San Mateo Creek.”
In 1793, the mission fathers in San Francisco established an outpost on the Peninsula. The outpost was at San Mateo Creek and was established to bring the Church to the Peninsula, to organize and oversee the newly converted Christians in livestock herding, and to provide food for the Mission.
The outpost was the first building built in San Mateo by non-natives. In 1822, California received word of Mexico’s independence from Spanish rule. This would bring changes to San Mateo, with the missions becoming secularized and free trade opening.
The Mexican Land Grants of 1835 would leave a few residents owning vast expansions of land in the area. In fact, these ranches or rancheros, as they were called, were so large that what is now the City of San Mateo is comprised of portions of two of them-Rancho San Mateo and Rancho de las Pulgas.
Continued next week….
Everything else is just history
