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;c, 1856 Sketch of_San•Laic Obispo by Henry Miller '
without Cou't eelulicau?n, an election was field as Ordinances Iequutng granted permission Possibly it was the limited ability' to pay fin set vices Much
Ti ustces for enactment . wet e passed within a month of the 1858 Court o'dei promoted —at best — limited civic enthusiasm 101 the legislative man potation
On Monday. Fehr oar• 1st as well as on the 9th, 16th and 23i d and on Match 20th,
vat rolls Ordinances were passed indicating Trustee meetings Also, the Supetvnsuts
iecetved a request lion' "the Board of Trustees of the Town of San Luis Obispo' The Act of 1856 cluected the County Count to call for the fist Board of Trustees
on Ma=ch 1st asking fora space in the Cr runty for 'linen purposes " Clime and election Six months later, on July 7, 1856 County Judge Romualdo Pacheco
violence were paramount to the residents as a few months later they formed a oicle'ed an election of three trustees fun the Town While the Boards of Supervisors
VignlanceCommmittee were iesponsible for Iecogntztng townships, the courts weie 'responsible for
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the initial election Pacheco ordered the Count Clerk to post the notice of the
Thus, locally there must have been a sense of progress as the Legulatute had pending election in thicc places in the community and William J Ct ayes was
decreed San Luis Obispo a Town, an election was held and laws passed to begin appointed Inspector lot the election to be held at the Court House The court
municipal governance Any relief was shot t lived I duecuve was for an election, not to incorporate Time Is no Indication in the
1 Supen'Isi)! ca County Coun i minutes of a Town Indeed in the 1850 lass' in main
On April 26, 1858, the 1856 Act was repealed The i ep aling legislation laovaled to qualify for incoi positron, time must have been at least 200 inhabitants with a
no substitute chiection except to annul the eau I er act. Thus, much of the land in inapt ay petitioning foi Town status \Ville women and children suer e Included in
``c✓.� the nu-longer incoipunated Town of San Luis Obispo nematned in the public the census. It Is likely only adult males signed any petition It seems Inipiohable -m
domain One local resident mew I ectly decided this "left the citizens to then own time \vete sufficient residents to sign any peuuon (if one was '(Ntnred) in 1856
in mauve " Nonetheless, yea's later. the Leg'slattuc acknowledged February I, I For the enure County of San Luis Obispo. the total vote in the same year lot die
1858 as the official Town organizational date for the put pose of settling title Piesident of the United States was only 205
claims to proper ty This was the date of the lust Oldlnance passed by the Trustees '-
• ' Time Is no Iecord of an election being held to comply with Judge Pacheco's
To summarize a rather convoluted cow se by the end of Apnl 1858, time was`o circlet A yedr and one-half late' on January filth, the new County Judge Munn,.
lunge' an official "Town" of San Luis Obispo as the incorporation deue€cd by the j or del al an election foi three Town Trustees on January 23id If there had been a
Legislaturc was Iepealed There had been an election and Ordinances passed.'but _ PIeewus elecuoti_the Court was not empoyvc'ed to olden any election except foi
now diet was no legal entity upon- which to enforce the Ondmances Dal the the-fist Otlicr-than the first one, elections according to the 1856 Act were the
County now assume governance for the C6urity seat; It seems unlikely that tins was -- responsibility-of the Town and held yeti ly on the first Monday in May Additionally,
a popuhti idea with cnhe: the County officials 01 the residents of thedformei Town , all casting Tuwn minute's i ecot d the Ti ustees calling foi an election and — as a, '
1 - Board of Canvassers— cCr plying the iestilts
If the Legislattile (aevtsed Apnl 19. 1856) ieftised-to acknowledge a Town. there I - - - ,
was another way comply with the 1850 Act and sign a petition Additionally, by I Additionally. the County Coin t was responsible for undying the election= of
following the pr ocedui es outlined in the eauiiei legislation allowed lot municipal County officials and issuing a cei uficite to each successful candidate Thine Is
taxation to a maximum one pcicent per one hundred dollais assessment I no mention in the iecolds of the Count doing so for any Town election With w
With no formal Town oaganization, the Boatel of Supervisors became quasi-town 1858: Incorporation again
officials as had the Court of Sessions The first Supervisors' meeting was on On June 15, 1858, the newly appointed County District Attorney, W 1 Graves,
December 13 with members John Wilson, Francisco Z Branch,Joaquin Estrada. was chi ected by the Boaid of Supervisois "to chary and circulate for signing" a
William G Dana and S A Pollard-elected Chau man by has peers The Board's first petition to incorporate San Luis Obispo as a Town Graves had already served in
nem of business was to appoint William L Beebe to replace Dana As County - the State Assembly and was undoubtedly familiar with both the 1850 and 1856
Ti easut el, Dana was ineligible to become his own employer The colorful Parket H Acts of rotor potation He most likely suggested the petition which was "indefinitely
Ft ench was appointed District Auotney During these early years, many names postponed" at the next Supervisois' meeting on August fifth Five clays later,
appeal in both County and local recoicls as some held a variety of offices As with however, the residents petitioned lot rncotpoianon which was granted immediately
most of Cahibt ma, early officials wet e born elsewhere in Arne'Ica-even the world with an election ot del ed on the twenty-fifth of the same month
The total County vote in 1852 was 123 Eight years later it grew to 423
Thus on August 10, 1853 the Town of San Luis Obispo was officially hot n (again)
1856: An Act to Incorporate the Town of San Luis Obispo I to the satisfaction of the Legislator e' The community's new status was pi obably of
After the Federal refusal to recognize the settlement as a pueblo, the State legis- little interest to many of those who long considered it home The compelling
latots attempted to help when "An Act to In cot pot ate the Town of San Luis question iemaineel as to who owned what piopetty within the new Town's botdcis
Obispo" was passed on February 19 It would not be the first law to Incorporate as mcoipora Lion did not automatically confer municipal ownership A definitive
— The Act piovi led that the "district" within the Count"tshall be a cot poration" answer was ten years away
.� with puweis to sue. "grant, pmchase. hold and recetve-pioperty" and enjoy the
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tither benefits confeuccl in the 1850 Act The eat I'm law.was specifically mew-
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potated in 1856 as long as there was no conflict with the new law. It is unclear if v
the Comt now supplanted by-the Boat(' of Supervisors was to approve any
petition fit a,township If It was still requited, it may have been r noted as there
g Cei tautly, the available evidence points to a lackluster response to the Town's official
is no i eau cl of any such action at this time There are few documents as to what time ',-
standing After all, what security was there to govern that which was not owned? On
impact Of any) the new legislation had upon the iesidnt
es While In-the eat het SelStembei 24;six Oichnances wete passed and one on October 7 This second set Ies
law live Trustees nvete to be elected, the number was reduced re'l San l of laws mostly duplicated the fiat series begun the previous February Thus, them
Luis Obispo six years later The Minutes of the Boatd,of Supeiytsois from this' -� -weidat lcaikt_t 'o Tnistec.inecting to address the "new"series It is not cleat from the
period alternatively r efer to'the "chstnct," "village" and "town"- of San Luis existing records if there wete any other Board of Tiustee meetings-as any minutes
Obispo, but the designations ale uncorisistent:Incl seem not_to be based upon pilot to`lvlay-of 1870 have yet-to be found
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some legal status The scanty i cam ds, howeyel, do provide a few clues discussed r -
below - - Angel wt rtes of these yea 's "Oiclinances wet c passed to ptovide for maintaining'
•- - - mcfel. naming sueet_s, keeping them clean and in u a(prim-licensing businesses,-
Thus, at least to the lawmakers in Sacramento, the Town had the powets of a and other purposes There appeals to have been but little attention to the
corporation "in perpetual succession," but the Trustees did "not have the power incorporation, and it•nearly tied out " Fmthetmoie, he states that the Town
to contact any debts or Itahilitics' " beyond $500 unless two-thuds of the voters was organized in May of 1859 with CH Johnson as Piesideni It is rccalled that
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Johnson was a mayor solace of information foi Angel's County history and piobably , c/�(' ✓GZ 'W, i9?" Sf Oof;i)6•
gave The Tribune echiot the elate What Angel punted 'clefs to the thud set of Town
I cm ulmances one of which repealed the first two set., Th 'ejection by the Land Commission mast have been very chscourtgi ng to those
who envisioned a much fat gel settlement than a Town in addition to some legal
An Invaluable sou'ce of 'nfoaanauon from] this era is a pamphlet entitled "History. , mechanism to substantiate title to piopi a ty as well as guidelines to develop local
Laws and Ordinances of the -linen of San Luis Obispo" dated May 28. 1870 The govei rance Who would want to settle, let alone poi chase pi opei ty, in a place with
uaely seen document deflated the municipality was "now !tinning smoothly" By no official iecognitton) Huwevei. any tin aesolved legal tide to land clad not pi event
then, issues were acickessed in a series of uadinances-some of which wet e repealed continuing purchases and a esale of vast tracts in the area by a a elauvely few
and passed again with new otclmance numbers The at ray of laws detailed in the people as rancho titles we'e iecognved by the Land Commission
publication point to a concerted court to pionule lot the Town's welfare It lists the Il
!fist orchnance as "passed May 5th, 1859" noting Johnson as Pi esulent and Thomas While of minor nmpoi Lance tin teens of population.San Lois Obispo was i epiesented
I-I Boutin as Clerk The tale of Ptesulent seems to he in en of as Chairman is most I in Sacramento as load men wet e elected to the Legislature Residents wear aware of
of ten used in pi eserved Town minutes Equaling inte'esttng is Ordinance 21 passed I the laws Assembly members included William J Craves (1855, 1857), Wallet Mtn ray
on the last day of May which iepealecl all pievwus ouhnances from February 1858 to (1859). Chat les I-1 Johnson (1861). and Charles W Dana (1862) In the Senate. the
May 5, 1859 The tepealed Otchnances- included in later laws -adcl'essed pi essing most famous Town testclent was Ronutaldo Pacheco serving foi five teams who
Municipal issues clogs, cleaning streets, disotdealy co a1 duct, a poll tax. fiieauins, went on to become the State's only Hispanic Covet not in 1875 His hi whet, Marano.
Marshal-fees, haystacks. and a"linen seal I served in the Assembly in 1852 and 1853
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In any case, the Bo td consisted of duce members Other than Johnson, another 1850: An Act to Provide for the Incorporation of Towns
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membet was attot nee Pete' A For tester who held a sat fete of civic positions On The lawmakers in Sacramento complied with the State's Consutuuon when it enacted
June 10, 1859 he signed a deed as"Ptesident pro tempo'e” of the Board of Trustees _ legislation to incoipo'ate settlements on Match 27 six-months before Statehood
as Johnson was probably away Flom the Town The common pracuce of the same II Locally, lade attention was paid to this Act as the application to the Lind Commission
person appearing in ,at toes CIVIC toles is evident. Fot rester, a Town Trustee was also 1 to lib declaicd a pueblo (town) was the focus of the local residents
serving as Cletk to 'die Boat d of Supervisors. While Houton was noted as the Town
Clerk. his name appealed shottlyttheieaftei as Cletleto•thc Board of Supervisors • �--Hosycvet, the:State Supreme-Court declared the 1850 Lcgislauve piosasions lot
and the County Coin t _ I, ^r the tricot potation of towns-illegal because the iesadenLS of a settlement wishing to
.- ibe ecognncd•as a town were required to pennon the local Coi t t of Sessions- The
r ``) r , highest court i tiled against theduchiaary assuming du: legislative function of town
11 mcotpurauuns On/May 3, 1852 the sr-dons in Sacramento responded by passing
- ( - 1 a law cieaung Boatcls-of Salmv Mns a legislative liorly to determine township'
Notwithstanding claws 01 legislative entitlements. the Town ol San Luis Obispo was status among other dunes Fm innately, the Supervisml tccoudcatepieservedawl
still an obscure settlement between the not th and the south Incorporation was pi ova teoffiend insights mto the early County governance Even the County Court
not accompanied by any substantial du ections for local cnvcns on how to address records ale included in these early Minuws
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Mexican Govei not of Caahfor ma had decided the funnel Mission establishment was a the myriad of Issues facing any community State do ecuons plaint:1y war ned that
pueblo, there was no such decree by the greater audio'Ries in Mexico City whatever was done must be accomplished with few taxes There wete some models
from other communities as well as the commonsense of the few leaders who wire
Concurrently, Calhfutnra's second Bishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany also petitioned iequued to pi omote then numtcrpahu•with nunmial resources Regaiclless of the new
the Land Commission on behalf of each mission including San Luis Obispo for legal status 01 size, there was a continuing demand to establish a civil and Judicial
some land on Febniary 19, 1853. While there had never been any Spanish oa system to address the residents' needs as well as a system of assessments
Mexican land grant to any mission 01 the Catholic Chinch, the Land Commission
made a distinction between Mission piopetty and chinch ptopei ty Basically, the The pumaiy concern Iemamed the legal tale to lands, but there wet e equally
latter category having a "foundation of perpetuity" included chinch buildings. Important issues of health and safety, education, revenue. tanspottauon, water
cemetery, gardens, and land necessary tot the upkeep of the religious community. sources, fife protection, sweets, personnel and the myriad ofuthei responsibilities
This piopeity belonged to the church On the eighteenth of Decemhei 1855, the that needed attention The Court of Sessions had assumed the Iesponsrbihues for
Commission agieed to transfer slightly mote than fifty-two acres of Mission land to County and Town governance Both the County and Town built upon then legacy
the Bishop as iepiesentauve of the Catholic Church as well as a separate claim
"owned" by John Wilson called the Laguna paiccl Piesulent Buchanan signed the Communications especially with the State Capitol and San Francisco wet e
final decree in 1859 and the Federal patent Just lot the Laguna property was the exuemely unpoiiant and rudimentary as there was no telegraph, newspaper, railway,
lust iecotcfed in the County by mud-October This writhe. first time in all Mission stagecoach o1 regular mail service Angel recalls one early mail ndet by the name of
e'
✓_ history that the Catholic Chinch owned any Mission land In tl\ past, the pitches Smith stopping at Pollard's store to lea e and pick up any letters One clay, Smith
acted as trtistees-foi the native population - chsappeau ecl neat Santa Inez and was assumed mutdetect in the area Such was the fate
of many who traveled through the 'cow counties" While die Town was at the cross-
Now, at least, some land in-the settlement had legal underpinnings - '1- \ e roads between the north and south• at was often the last to tecetve news f orn either
Despite any Issues with-and, San Luis Obispo grew When in Henry After American occupation, mail was carried by horseback in semi-monthly relays
Millet stopped in the little town" in the summer of 1856, he estimated there were by the military-By time ry-By 1855 the was a post office with Alexander Murr M
ray, the other
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about I50 houses Most of these were the adobe huu_ f helt oat the(,
natives who of Walter, as the first Federal Postmaster succeeding Foliate, who used his store as a
lived neat the Mission He was told by "a very intelligent" man that the American' :: pick=up andjdrop-off point and had no-Such formal appointment A stagecoach
goyerniacnt "was very badly sustained" locally with few residents to guard either - l 1 carried (nail and passengers north while horseback carriers wenCsoinh There was
We of ptopelty Issues of personal safety'-undoubtedly oceishaduwed thoughts of no,gtaialtl,'e that mail an wed safely or that even ann•ed. Undoubtedly recening
moot �oruutn. r
I , stagecoach set vice in 1861 between S.in fralicasco and Los-Angeles pi(maned •
growth and communication The ride let alone the clanger of a stagecoach urp
- f' was anything but leisurely Many years later in the stanniea-of 1874, the Westeur '
- `�0 Union Telegraph Company iequested penmssion from the Trustees for the "right
of way through the town limns" to install poles It was granted immediately Now.
San Luis Obispo was finally connected to the world