Los Coches Rancho, encompassing 8,994.2 acres, was granted to María Josefa Soberanes de Richardson by the Mexican government in 1841. Her husband, William Brunner Richardson, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, built the adobe house here in 1843 and planted the nearby locust trees in 1846. The site was also the encampment of Captain John C. Frémont in 1846 and 1847. The adobe later served as a stage station and post office, and Margaret Jacks donated it to the State of California in 1958.