Settlement of a City

Los Angeles was founded in 1781 by the Los Angeles River, which the Spanish called El Río de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles de Porciúncula. The river had long sustained the indigenous Tongva people, and Spanish-colonial settlers established the pueblo near the Tongva village of Yaanga, where water, game, and fertile land were plentiful. Governor Felipe de Neve laid out a rectangular plaza aligned with the cardinal points, with house lots on three sides and a church and public buildings planned for the fourth. Flooding repeatedly reshaped the settlement: a major flood in 1810 forced relocation of the original pueblo, another in 1815 changed the river's course to empty into Ballona Creek and forced the pueblo and its Plaza to move again to their current site, and a flood in 1833 diverted the river back to its current course while causing widespread destruction to the city's water supply and infrastructure, including the loss of the waterwheel and reservoirs. After a major flood in 1938, the river was channelized with concrete. The Pueblo remained under the religious guidance of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel until La Iglesia Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles was built in 1822, a sign of the town's growing independence from the mission, and by 1790 the pueblo had 139 inhabitants. Construction of the city's first church, La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Reina de Los Angeles, began in 1818 and was completed by 1822; known locally as La Placita church because it stands across from the Old Plaza, it is the oldest and most historic house of worship in Los Angeles, and its adjoining historic cemetery is a federally registered site maintained by LA Plaza.

Los Angeles, California · United States