| Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Collection
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| Botanic Garden and Herbarium Being Created in Santa Ana Canyon Yorba Linda Star April 5 1929 page 1 |
| Mrs. Bryant Again Entertains Lemon Men's Club at Field Day Meeting The California Citrograph June 1933 |
| Local Ranch is Sanctuary for Flora of State Yorba Linda Star April 20 1934 page 1 |
| Pasture Fire on Bryant Ranch Burns 9 Hours, 160 Acres Yorba Linda Star June 17 1938 page 1 |
| Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Developing into Institution for Serious Scientific Research Yorba Linda Star April 28 1939 page 5 |
| County Home Makers Today Make Tour of Botanic Gardens Yorba Linda Star May 5 1939 page 1 |
| Big Grass Fire Covers 400 Acres of Bryant Ranch Yorba Linda Star September 20 1940 page 1 |
| Fire Sweeps S.A. Canyon and Hills; North Edge Y.L. Singed Yorba Linda Star November 12 1943 |
| A Short History of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden by Philip A. Munz, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden of the Native Plants of California May 1947 |
| Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens to be Open to Public Yorba Linda Star March 26 1948 page 1 |
| Botanical Garden Opens to Public Yorba Linda Star March 25 1949 page 1 |
| Botanic Garden to Open to Visitors Yorba Linda Star March 17 1950 page 1 |
| Bryant Ranch Tentative Tract Map Approved Following Council Discussion on Area Roads Yorba Linda Star October 7 1978 page 1 |
| Controversial Bryant Ranch as Yet Remains Untouched Yorba Linda Star March 23 1979 page 3 |
| Historic Home Subject of City Excursion Yorba Linda Star February 29 1984 page 1 |
| Bryant Ranch Property: A Look at Its Past Yorba Linda Star March 7 1984 page 3 |
| Susanna Bryant Leaves Botanic Legacy Yorba Linda Star March 14 1984 page 6 |
| Bryant Ranch Project Enters First Phase Yorba Linda Star January 30 1985 page 5 |
| Bryant Ranch Slated to be Museum Yorba Linda Star January 7 1987 page 1 |
| Yorba Ranch Building to be Salvaged Yorba Linda Star February 4 1987 page 1 |
| Bryant Ranch House Museum Opens Yorba Linda Star February 26 1988 page 3 |
| Ranch House has a History Yorba Linda Star December 14 1995 page 8 |
| Bryant Ranch House to Vie for National Registry Yorba Linda Star October 17 1996 page 1 |
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Ranch House has a HistoryYorba Linda Star December 14 1995 page 8
Bryant Ranch isn't another set of tract homes in a master-designed neighborhood.
The dwelling is one of Yorba Linda's most important historical landmarks, city officials and residents say, with a story dating back to the 1800s.
The land the home stands on once belonged to the city's namesake—Bernardo Yorba. In the 1870s Yorba's widow sold the land to a man named John Bixby, who built a ranching operation on it. Bixby used the ranch to raise cattle and grow wheat, hay and citrus trees, said Mary Ruth Erickson, president of the city's historical society.
According to the city records, the rest of the story goes like this:
Bixby died in 1891 and left a portion of the property to his daughter, Susanna Bixby-Bryant. She later acquired the remainder of the land and built what is now the Bryant Ranch House.
Actively involved in the operation of the ranch, Susanna Bixby-Bryant lived in the house periodically and later used it as the ranch headquarters. More buildings were built in the 1920s.
As the years went on, Susanna Bixby-Bryant founded a 200-acre botanic garden on the property for the study of native California plants. The garden received national recognition, with mention in such publications as Sunset Magazine and the Christian Science Monitor.
When Susanna Bixby-Bryant died in 1952, the botanic garden was shut down and moved to Claremont, where it still exists.
Susanna Bixby-Bryant's nephew, Ernest Bryant III operated the ranch until 1978 when it sold. Since then, the Bryant Ranch House has remained vacant. Some of the other buildings on the property were destroyed by a fire in the 1980s, while others were demolished.
The Bryant Ranch is still considered an important historical element in the city because it is one of the last remaining examples of early California ranch houses, Erickson said.
“This is the last house standing from the ranch,” she said. “And it's one of the oldest buildings in the area.”
If the proposed development plan is approved, the society is going to apply for inclusion in the National Register of Historical Places.
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