DOI: 10.25549/chs-m13262
title: The E.O.C. Ord's first map of the city of Los Angeles, drawn in August 29, 1849

description: Photograph of the E.O.C. Ord's first map of the city of Los Angeles, drawn in August 29, 1849. The grid up north near the mountains represent downtown Los Angeles. The blocks in downtown Los Angeles are further divided into numbered sections. The lower half of the map represents the greater Los Angeles area, which is broken into smaller sections and labeled with names (a majority of which are Spanish or Mexican names) of the landowners.; Legible writings include: "Los Angeles city map, no.1", "plan de la ciudad de los Angeles, surveyed and drawn by E.O.C. Ord Lt. U.S.A. & Wm. R. Hutton, afst. August 29, 1849", "explanation of signs: plough ground, gardens, road, sanja, hedge, pole fence, corn, vines", "calle de las Chapulas, Grasshopper St.", "calle de las Flores, Flower St.", "calle de las Esperanza, Hope St.", "calle de las Caridad, Charity St.", "calle Acey Zuna, Olive St.", "calle Loma, Hill St.", "calle Fortin, Fort St.", "calle Primarera, Spring St.", "calle Principal, Main St.", "calle 1, 1st St.", "calle 2, 2nd St.", "calle 3, 3rd St.", "calle 4, 4th St.", "calle 5, 5th St.", "calle 6, 6th St.", "calle 7, 7th St.", "calle 8, 8th St.", "c. corla, Short St.", "calle eternidad, Eternity St.", "calle de Torra, Bull St.", "calle de las Arispas, Hornet St.", "calle de las Adobos", "mag[...], Meridian variation, 1 E, 44 E", "Juan Rurus", "Lucero", "Jose Sepulveda", "D. Ybarra", "G. Ybarra", "Topias", "T. Tapia", "Juana Rendon", "Ballestero", "Juan Apoblasa", "F. Abita", "[...] Alila", "Juan Domingo", "Maximo Alanis", "Vicente Sanchez", "F. Alvarado", "Miguel Pryor", "Antonio M. Lugo", "Atonio T. Abila", "Ciara Reyes", "Clara Reyes", "Zanja to the mesa", "sana(?) over which the river spreads its waters which are wasted", "Juan Luis Vignes", "Ricardo McLaughlin", "Lamuel Carpenter", "Feliz Gallardy", "Valenzuela", "Bened da Polamares", "Cata", "Victoria Higuera, widow of Vicente Sanchez, wife of Casaldo Aguilar", "Benancia Sotelo", "William Wolfskill", "Narcesso Botelo", "Antonio F. Coronel", "Antonio G. Abila", "Yguacio Machado", "Luis Lamerean", "Juan Cabary", "Alanis", "Mariano Jordan", "Cristobol Aguilar", "Isidero Reyes", "scale of 10 inches to the mile", "compass course of Main Street from corner opposite Jose Ant Carillos House, S 24° 45' W", "compass course of Main Street north of the Church, N 9½° E", "variation of the needle 12° 44' E".; "Thanks to the efforts of two men we have a fairly good view of what the pueblo of Los Angeles looked like at the middle of the 19th century. Lieutenant Edward O.C. Ord surveyed the pueblo and his assistant William Rich Hutton sketched many scenes of the pueblo and drew the first map from Ord's survey. Ord was in California when the gold rush struck, with its resultant skyrocketing of prices. Since the military salaries no longer covered living expenses, his commander suggested that the younger officers take on other jobs to supplement their income. At about this time Los Angeles officials needed to have a survey of the public lands in order to sell them, and Ord was hired as the surveyor. He chose William Hutton as his assistant, and together the two mapped Los Angeles in July and August of 1849. The Los Angeles City Archives has the original map produced by Hutton from Ord's survey." -- unknown author.