Building History

Ellwood Cooper (1829-1918), was born in PA, and migrated out to Goleta, CA, by 1870. He established a ranch on 400 acres on which he raised crops and maintained herds of dairy cows. According to Goleta historian Tom Modugno, Ellwood's ranch became a tourist attraction and a large-scale agricultural producer: "He planted 400 acres of trees, including 7,000 olive trees, 4,000 Japanese persimmons, 3,000 almond trees, 1,000 other assorted fruit trees and 12,500 walnut trees, making him the largest walnut grower in California for several years. Ellwood also had a herd of 150 Jersey cattle from which he supplied butter to Santa Barbara and San Francisco." (See Tom Modugno, Goleta History.com, "Who's Elwood?" published 10/19/2014, accessed 02/14/2019.) He resided on the ranch until his wife died in 1909, at which time he sold his ranch and moved to Arlington Hotel where he lived for the last nine years of his life.

Cooper and his family lived in this two-story, wood-frame residence, covered in board-and-batten siding, during his nearly 40 years in Goleta.

PCAD id: 22723