Francisco Zeba Branch was bear hunting in 1832 when he first visited the Arroyo Grande Valley - it was wild country then, still untouched by civilization. Branch was charmed by the wild yet beguiling valley that snakes out of the hills and bursts onto the dune-rimmed Pacific shore.
Visitors continue to be charmed, but it's no longer possible to do what Branch did. He bought nearly 17,000 acres and launched a successful cattle business. When drought hit hard in 1864, Branch began to sell parcels of his vast holdings to settlers. The Village of Arroyo Grande developed to serve them.
By 1876, there were 35 families and the farm-based community began to flourish. A railway depot was established in 1882. In 1911 residents voted to incorporate the City of Arroyo Grande. From the beginning businesses were established along a road appropriately named Branch Street.
Arroyo Grande is located on the beautiful Central Coast of California mid-way between Los Angeles and San Fransisco. Arroyo Grande is situated two miles east of the Pacific Ocean, 15 miles south of San Luis Obispo, and 15 miles north of Santa Maria just off Highway 101.
The earliest inhabitants of the Arroyo Grande Valley were the northern or Obispeno Chumash Indians. They still occupied the valley at the time of contact with the first Spanish explorer, Juan Cabrillo. During the colonial settlement of California, the Arroyo Grande Valley became separated into two major ranchos granted by the Mexican government around 1840. In the mid 1860's, a severe drought decimated the cattle population, forcing the large ranchos to sell smaller parcels to new settlers for agriculture uses. In 1862, the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors established the township of Arroyo Grande. It was incorporated on July 10, 1911.
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