Santa Margarita

Santa Margarita de Cortona was founded in 1775 as part of the original Spanish mission system. Its asistencia, in fact, has been considered a lost mission. Santa Margarita Ranch was later founded from a Mexican land grant. In 1889, the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, with its terminus in Santa Margarita, created a boomtown with dance halls, blacksmiths, hotels, pool halls, saloons, and a jail. And with the popularity of auto travel half a century later, Santa Margarita was once ag...