Built by Casilda Soto de Lobo and her sons, the Adobe originally served as a family home on Rancho La Merced. In 1851, after a foreclosure, the land was transferred to William Workman, who gave shared ownership to his son-in-law F.P.F. Temple and ranch foreman Juan Matias Sanchez. Sanchez expanded the Adobe and lived there until his death in 1885.

The Adobe sits on land originally inhabited by the Tongva (also known as Gabrieleño), one of the First Peoples of California. Their villages once thrived along the rivers and hills of what is now the Los Angeles Basin. Like much of California, this land was taken through colonization, first by the Spanish, then by Mexico, and eventually by the United States after the Mexican-American War.

The Adobe was built in 1844 during the Mexican period, on Rancho La Merced—over 2,300 acres granted to Casilda Soto de Lobo, a widow of a soldier from the San Gabriel Mission. This layered history reflects the broader story of land ownership, displacement, and resilience in California.

The Adobe is a rare, tangible reminder of the region’s layered past—including Indigenous roots, Mexican landholding, and American expansion. Each January, we commemorate the nearby Battle of Rio San Gabriel (1847)—a turning point in the U.S. conquest of California—with a public reenactment and living history day. Preserving and sharing this space helps us better understand where we come from, and how our relationship to land, identity, and community continues to evolve.

Learn more about our history and the free annual Battle of Rio San Gabriel reenactment.