Courtesy Photo   The Founding of the North County City
Wednesday, April 11, 2012  The City of Guadalupe, located west
of Santa Maria off Highway 166, was founded in 1873 and takes
its name from Rancho Guadalupe. For about 10 years, Guadalupe
was the largest settlement in northwestern Santa Barbara County.
In 1840, the Mexican government granted to Teodoro Arellanes and
Diego Olivera more than 32,000 acres of prime ranchland well-
watered by the Santa Maria River. The duo set up a cattle
operation and constructed a large adobe, with walls 20 inches
thick, as their ranch headquarters. This adobe was razed by John
C. Fremont and his troops as they passed through the ranch in
1846 on their way to Santa Barbara.  A U.S. District Court
confirmed Arellanes and Olivera’s claim to the ranch in 1857,
but shortly afterward, the ranch began to pass through the hands
of a number of owners, and the sale of ranch parcels began.
Among these owners was John B. Nugent, a former San Francisco
newspaper editor, who was forced t