Rancho Simi

The valley's name is older than the rancho: the bronze derives Simi from Shimiji, the Chumash village that stood here before the Spanish came. The state register misspells the grant's own name, printing Altagarcia for the Altagracia cast in bronze. At 113,000 acres the grant was one of the largest in California, made first to Santiago Pico and bought in 1842 by José de la Guerra. Two rooms of its adobe survive inside the house the Strathearn family built in 1892 and 1893, now the center of a historical park.

What the plaque says

El Rancho Simi (1795) This is the site of the headquarters of the Spanish Rancho San Jose de Nuestra Senora de Altagracia y Simi. The name derives from "Shimiji," the name of the Chumash village here before the Spanish. At 113,000 acres Rancho Simi was one of the state's largest land grants. Two prominent Spanish and Mexican family names are connected with the rancho: Santiago Pico who first received the grant, and Jose de la Guerra who purchased the rancho in 1842. Two rooms of original adobe remain, part of the Strathearn home built in 1892-3. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 979 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with Simi Valley Historical Society, April 9, 1989.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Leonis Adobe — 12 mi
  Miguel Leonis left his estate to relatives in France and called Espíritu Chijulla his housekeeper; she spent sixteen years proving in court that she was his wife.
• Mentryville and Pico Canyon — 13 mi
  A company town in a canyon, and a mile and a half further up the road, the well that started the California oil industry.
• Pioneer Oil Refinery — 17 mi
  The first commercially successful refinery in the West, built in 1876 to take the crude coming down the pipeline from Pico Canyon.
• The Cascades — 18 mi
  The concrete chute where the Los Angeles Aqueduct arrives, and where forty thousand people watched the Owens Valley come south in 1913.

More markers nearby

• Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village — 5.5 mi
• Stagecoach Inn — 9.2 mi
• Rancho Camulos — 9.4 mi
• Warring Park — 9.8 mi