This is a list of pre-statehood alcaldes and mayors of San Diego , from 1770 to 1850, during the Spanish, Mexican, and early American periods, prior to California's admission to statehood.
From 1770 San Diego was ruled by a commandant from the Presidio of San Diego under the Spanish and (from 1822) Mexican governments. When San Diego became a Pueblo in 1835, an alcalde (mayor) of San Diego served under the Mexican and pre-statehood United States governments.
Commandant | Term | Notes |
---|---|---|
Lt. Pedro Fages | July 1770 – May 1774 | Military Commandant of California |
Lt. José Francisco Ortega | 1773–1781 | Acting Commandant from July 1771 |
Lt. José de Zúñiga | September 8, 1781 – October 19, 1793 | |
Lt. Antonio Grajera | October 19, 1793 – August 23, 1799 | |
Lt. José Front | August 23, 1799 – 1803 | Temporary Commandant ranking Rodriguez |
Lt. Manuel Rodríguez | August 23, 1799 – late 1806 | Acting Commandant to 1803 |
Lt. Francisco María Ruiz | late 1806 – 1807 | 1st time; Acting Commandant. |
Lt. José de la Guerra y Noriega | 1806–1807 | "for a short time" |
Capt. José Raimundo Carrillo | late 1807 – 1809 | |
Lt. Francisco María Ruiz | 1809–1820 | 1st time; Acting Commandant. |
Capt. Ignacio de Corral | 1810–1820 | Never came to California |
Lt. José María Estudillo | October 23, 1820 – September 1821 | 1st time |
Capt. Francisco María Ruiz | September 1821 – 1827 | 2nd time; Presidio relinquished by the Spanish April 20, 1822 |
Lt. José María Estudillo | 1827 – April 8, 1830 | 2nd time |
Lt. Santiago Argüello | April 8, 1830 – 1835 | |
Capt. Agustín V. Zamorano | 1835–1840 | Never assumed command; was in San Diego only during 1837–1838 |
Capt. Pablo de la Portillà | 1835–1838 | Nominally commandant by rank whenever present |
San Diego became a pueblo in 1834, after a petition to Governor José Figueroa endorsed by Commandant Santiago Arguello. The first Alcalde (mayor) Juan María Osuna was elected, defeating Pío Pico by 13 votes. By 1838, the population shrank enough to lose its pueblo status and was ruled by a Juez de Paz as a partition of the Los Angeles District until San Diego was incorporated as a city under U.S. rule.
The following are the Juez de Paz and Alcaldes (Justices of the Peace and Mayors) of San Diego. In this table "suplente" means substitute.
Alcalde | Term | Notes |
---|---|---|
Juan María Osuna | January 1, 1835 – 1836 | 1st time |
Santiago Argüello | 1836–1837 | Also last full-time Commandant |
José Antonio Estudillo | 1837–1839 | 1st time |
Juan María Marrón | 1839–1841 | 1st time |
Rosario E. Aguilar | 1841 | Juez de Paz |
Jesús Moreno | 1841 | Suplente |
José Antonio Congora | 1842 | Juez de Paz; 1st time |
José María Alvarado | 1842 | Suplente |
José Joaquin Ortega | 1843 – May 1843 | Juez de Paz; 1st time |
José Antonio Congora | May 1843 – 1843 | Juez de Paz; 2nd time |
José María Orozco | 1843 | Suplente |
Juan María Marrón | 1844 | Juez de Paz; 2nd time; b. February 8, 1808 |
Thomas Wrightington | 1844 | Suplente; 1st time |
Francisco María Alvarado | 1845 | Juez de Paz |
José Antonio Estudillo | 1845 | Juez de Paz (temporary); 2nd time |
José Ramon Argüello | 1845 – April 1845 | Suplente |
José Antonio Estudillo | April 1846 – 1846 | Sub-prefect; 3rd time; served until arrival of Americans |
Juan María Osuna | 1846 | Juez de Paz; 2nd time(?); at first declined office, possibly did not act |
Miguel Pedrorena | 1846 | Juez de Paz; served in Estudillo's absence |
José Joaquin Ortega | August 1846 – August 1846 | Juez de Paz; 2nd time; 1st under American rule |
Henry D. Fitch | August 1846 – June 1847 | Suplente; Juez de Paz in 1847 |
Lt. Robert Clift, Jr. | June 1847 – 1847 | Suplente; also Juez de Paz to March 1848 |
Philip Crosthwaite | 1847 | Suplente; possibly appointed with Fitch |
Thomas Wrightington | 1847 – March 1848 | Suplente; 2nd time; possibly served in Crosthwaite's place |
Juan Bandini | March 29, 1848 – September 27, 1848 | Juez de Paz |
E. L. Brown | April 15, 1848 – 1848 | |
Juan María Marrón | October 3, 1848 – 1849 | Juez de Paz |
Dennis Gahagan | 1849–1850 | Alcalde |
Thomas W. Sutherland | March 1850 – 1850 | Acting Alcalde |
Branciforte, originally named Villa de Branciforte, was the last of only three secular pueblos founded by the Spanish colonial government of Alta California. The pueblo was established in 1797 on the eastern bluff of the San Lorenzo River, facing Mission Santa Cruz on the west side of the river, in modern-day Santa Cruz, California. The pueblo never prospered, and the area was annexed into the city of Santa Cruz, California in 1905.
Luis Antonio Argüello was the first Californio (native-born) governor of Alta California, and the first to take office under Mexican rule. He was the only governor to serve under the First Mexican Empire and also served as acting governor under the subsequent provisional government, which preceded the First Mexican Republic.
José Antonio Estudillo was a Californio ranchero, politician, and soldier, who served as Alcalde of San Diego and as San Diego County Assessor. He was a member of the Estudillo family of California, a prominent Californio family of San Diego.
Francisco María Alvarado was an early settler of San Diego, California.
Juan María Marrón was an early settler of San Diego, California.
Juan María Osuna was an early settler of San Diego, California.
Agustín Vicente Zamorano (1798–1842), was a printer, soldier, and provisional Comandante General in the north of Alta California.
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, shortened to Pueblo de los Ángeles, was the Spanish civilian pueblo settled in 1781, which became the American metropolis of Los Angeles. The pueblo was built using labor from the adjacent village of Yaanga and was totally dependent on local Indigenous labor for its survival.
Manuel Victoria was governor of the Mexican-ruled territory of Alta California from January 1831 to December 6, 1831. He died in exile. He was appointed governor on March 8, 1830 by Lucas Alamán.
Don Manuel Domínguez e Ybáñez (1803–1882) was a Californio ranchero, politician, and a signer of the Californian Constitution in 1849. He served as two terms as Alcalde of Los Angeles (mayor). He was one of the largest landowners in Southern California, having inherited Rancho San Pedro in 1825, one of the largest ranchos in California. He was one of the founders of the cities of Carson and Compton and of the fishing village of San Pedro. Today, California State University, Dominguez Hills and the communities of Rancho Dominguez, East Rancho Dominguez, and West Rancho Dominguez bear his family's name.
Diego de Borica (1742–1800) was a Basque colonial Governor of the Californias, from 1794 to 1800.
Rancho San Jose was a 22,340-acre (90.4 km2) Mexican land grant in northeastern Los Angeles County given in 1837 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to Ygnacio Palomares and Ricardo Véjar. Today, the communities of Pomona, LaVerne, San Dimas, Diamond Bar, Azusa, Covina, Walnut, Glendora, and Claremont are located in whole or part on land that was once part of the Rancho San Jose.
The Ávila family was a prominent Californio family of Spanish origins from Southern California, founded by Cornelio Ávila in the 1780s. Numerous members of the family held important rancho grants and political positions, including two Alcaldes of Los Angeles.
Juan Francisco Reyes (1749–1809), soldado de cuero on the 1769 Portola expedition, alcalde of the Pueblo de Los Angeles for three terms, and recipient of the Spanish land grant for Rancho Los Encinos and later Lompoc.
Santiago Argüello (1791–1862) was a Californio, a soldier in the Spanish army of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in Las Californias, a major Mexican land grant ranchos owner, and part of an influential family in Mexican Alta California and post-statehood California.
The Sepúlveda family is a prominent Californio family of Southern California. Members of the family held extensive rancho grants and numerous important positions, including Alcalde de Los Ángeles, California State Assemblymen, and Los Angeles County Supervisor.
San Diego Viejo Plaza,, also called Plaza de Las Armas, Old Town Plaza, Washington Square, is a historical site in San Diego, California. San Diego Viejo Plaza site is a California Historical Landmark No. 63, listed on December 5, 1932. The plaza was center of Pueblo de San Diego founded in 1835 in Alta California.