San Fernando Road part of old route from Mexico to Monterey

San Fernando Road, one of the oldest and most historic streets in

Glendale, is part of a route that traces its roots back to Southern

California’s earliest days.

Once a primitive, dusty trail, it was the primary route for those

traveling from Mexico City to Northern California. No doubt, many of

the Spanish soldiers, priests, Indians and early settlers used the

trail as they passed through this area.

The route ran right through the 36,000 acres on which Spanish

soldier Jose Maria Verdugo grazed his cattle. Verdugo had received

permission to use the land in 1784, but did not move onto the

property right away, possibly because a hunt was underway for a site

for another mission between San Gabriel and San Buenaventura.

The governor sent emissaries in 1795 to select such a site. They

traveled over Verdugo’s land, finding great fields of watermelon,

sugar melons, corn and beans.

Although the land was obviously fertile, the officials did not

select the Verdugo land, possibly because there were no permanent

structures on the property, according to “Glendale Area History,”

edited by Carroll W. Parcher and E. Caswell.

Instead, the church took over a ranch in possession of Francisco

Reyes, a “squatter on land further to the northwest,” part of the San

Gabriel Mission holdings.

With the mission question settled, Verdugo applied for permission

to retire as a corporal of the Spanish Army and move to his property.

He was 48 when he received his honorable discharge in 1799.

Once he was on his property, Parcher writes, Jose Maria took on

the role of a California don, welcoming guests passing through his

rancho and entertaining them lavishly.

Property boundaries were rather vague in those days and the

Verdugo family claimed ownership of the land almost all the way north

to the mission. In 1817, government officials traveled over the whole

San Fernando Valley, establishing a dividing line between the

mission’s Cahuenga Rancho and the Corporal’s Rancho San Rafael. That

border is where Universal City is located today.

The name of San Fernando Road wasn’t formally recorded until 1871,

when Verdugo’s huge estate was divided into 31 parcels in the “Great

Partition” court case.

At the same time, the court ordered that San Fernando Road remain

open for unrestricted travel “henceforth and forever.”

Although the route stayed the same, by the turn of the century,

the old name fell out of use and for many years went by the less

romantic name of Second Street.

Fortunately, in 1918, Glendale restored the original name and it

remains in use today.

* KATHERINE YAMADA is a volunteer with the Special Collections

Room at the Glendale Central Library. Her column runs on Saturdays.

To reach her, leave a message at 637-3241. The Special Collections

Room is open from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays or by appointment. For

more information on Glendale’s history, contact the reference desk at

the Central Library at 548-2027.