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The politician, businessman, and historian, Pio Pico, purchased the 8,891 acres on which this house stood from the Perez Family in 1850. The ranch also possessed a number of other buildings, including, a mill, chapel, corral, and extensive gardens. Located conveniently on the house's patio, a well provided potable water to the house, while a nearby zanja or canal provided water for bathing, the washing of clothes, and irrigation. By 1855, Pico and his brother Andres owned 532,000 acres of land in the state, on which he grazed cattle and raised crops, holdings which made him one of the wealthiest citizens in the new state. Pico entertained lavishly at El Ranchito, an adobe house that supposedly possessed 33 rooms. Pico spent money profligately on his furnishings and additions to his house and at his Pico House Hotel in Los Angeles, long considered the finest establishment in Southern California, and one of the most notable hotels in the West.

Pio Pico State Historic Park tel: (562) 695-1217 (2006);

Pico lived in this house from 1852-1884. Flooding on the San Gabriel River in 1867, may have damaged some rooms on El Ranchito's western section.

San Gabriel River floods demolished the Pico House #1 in 1884.

PCAD id: 6470