King Carlos III from the Spanish Empire, gave Manuel Nieto Rancho Los Nietos in 1784. The Rancho Los Alamitos and Rancho Los Cerritos were split up from this region. Signal Hill was the dividing point between these two ranchos and was on an angel from northeast to southwest. Long Beach was actually part of a section of Rancho San Pedro. The boundaries of the area were argued for yeas because of the flooding that changed the boundaries of the Los Angeles River. It was between Manuel Nieto and Juan Jose Dominguez ranchos.

Jonathan Temple purchased Rancho Los Cerritos in 1843 after having gotten to California in 1827 from the East Coast. He was the person who built the National Historic Landmark called Los Cerritos Ranch House and it is still in great shape today. Temple had built a very successful cattle ranch and made a great deal of money. He ended up being dubbed the richest man in Los Angeles County. Temple’s ranch house and his self, played big roles in the Mexican-American War. Mormon pioneers made a weak attempt to start a colony on an island in San Pedro Bay.

Temple sold Rancho Los Cerritos in 1866 for around $20,000 to Flint, Bixby & Co, who were a sheep raising firm out of Northern California. The group was comprised of two brothers named Benjamin and Thomas Flint, along with their cousin, Lewellyn Bixby. Prior to that, the group had purchased three other ranchos with the assistance of an associate from Northern California named James Irvine. These ranchos would later take on Irvine’s name. Jotham Bixby was picked to manage Rancho Los Cerritos and he ended up being nicknamed the Father of Long Beach. Three years after, Bixby purchased into the place that would later be the start of Bixby Land Company. At least 30,000 sheep were being kept at the ranch in the 1870’s and they were sheared twice a year. This provided a great deal of wool for trade and in 1880, Bixby ended up selling 4,000 acres of the Rancho Los Cerritos. He sold to William Willmore who followed that up with dividing the property up with the idea of starting a farming community called Willmore City. Although he failed at this idea, he was able to sell the property to a Los Angeles syndicate that named themselves Long Beach Land and Water Company. After they took ownership, they changed the name of the area to Long Beach. In 1897, the city of Long Beach had been incorporated on an official level.