About J. J. Lopez and Tejon Ranch

According to Wallace Morgan in History of Kern County, the Honored Castilian family of Lopez established in the New World when Claudio Lopez, an officer in the Spanish Army, crossed the ocean during one of the disruptions that occasionally disrupted Mexico and gave efficient services in stopping the disturbance. J.J. Lopez himself stated in Frank Latta’s 1933 publication El Camino Viejo A Los Angeles that his family had come to California Alta with Anza and had been here for six generations.

In 1795, J.J. Lopez’s grandfather, Stephano Lopez, freighted from San Pedro to Los Angeles and to the missions and haciendas around San Fernando, San Gabriel, and Elizabeth Lake, which was then called Laguna de Chico Lopez. J.J. Lopez states that his grandfather and then his father had six carretas, or carts
and hauled hides, olive oil and tallow to the ships and brought back manufactured goods.

J.J. Lopez, the eldest of sixteen children, was born in 1852 in Los Angeles. His parents were Geronimo and Catherine Lopez. His mother’s maiden name was also Lopez and his maternal grandfather held the office of administrator of the San Fernando Mission. He was educated in Los Angeles and he alternated his time between Los Angeles and the family homestead in San Fernando.

J.J. Lopez came to Kern County in 1874 when he was 21 years old. He was hired to manage the sheep operations at Tejon Ranch by General Edward F. Beale. He eventually oversaw all livestock operations at the massive ranch, and was appointed manager. He retired in 1909 to Bakersfield, but was lured out of retirement by the ranch’s new owner. He continued to manage the ranch until 1929 and remained on as a consultant for another 10 years until his death in 1939.

Tejon Ranch is the largest contiguous expanse of land under single ownership in California. Its 426 square miles, or 270,000 acres, make it larger than the City of Los Angeles and about 40% the size of Rhode Island. It is located along Interstate 5, approximately 30 miles south of Bakersfield. It was assembled from four Mexican land grants and traces its roots back to 1843.

Tejon Ranch has been an important part of history, as shown by a striking photograph of Lopez and President Herbert Hoover. The Tejon Ranch has been a significant part of Kern County’s heritage going back to California’s period of Spanish rule, and then Mexican rule. The 60 year career of Jose Lopez with such an important ranch, and his own Spanish and Mexican heritage, can be celebrated through the preservation of the Lopez Home at the Kern County Museum.

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