Page 15 - lareina1929
P. 15
LA REINA LOS ANGELES IN Three CENTURIES 11
Original plan of the 'Pueblo from Bancroft ) The lots around the Plaza are the homes of the
first settlers. The lots between the river and the ditch are the cultivated lands of the settlers.
'The City Is Founded, September 4th, 1781
L PUEBLO de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles was the long and
E musical name which, on the 4th of September 1781 was given this attempt
at a city with a population of 11 half-hearted, probably footsore and doubtless
homesick families, one thousand miles from nowhere.
As before mentioned, the march of nine miles from San Gabriel Mission was
one of pomp and circumstance, and we shall now quote from Mrs. A. S. C. Forbes,
to get at some of the heart-touching details:
"First came Sergeant Jose Anton Navarre or Navarro, carrying the image of
Our Lady of the Angels, followed by Corporal Jose Vanegas with the Holy Cross
and Private Luis Quintero bearing aloft the banner of Spain.
"Then came Governor De Neve and Fathers Crusado and Sanchez, attended
by Indian acolytes. Guards, friends and settlers followed in slow procession. Circling
the plaza and approaching the arbor, where an altar had been prepared, mass was
