1880, María Rosa de las Mercedes Casanova

1840-1884. María Rosa de las Mercedes Casanova married Francisco Solano in the Plaza Church in Los Angeles. Rosa Casanova de Solano was born in Mosquitos, New Granada, in what is now Costa Rica. She and her husband bought the land of present day Solano Canyon in 1866. (the title date of 1880 is aproximate)

1866, Solano Canyon & Calvary Cemetery

Legend: "Francisco Solano has the tract of 35.65 acres surveyed Aug. 21. 1866 and petitioned The City Government to sell the same, but the Com. Council resolved to sell only 16 acres". The City of Los Angeles to Francisco Solano. Sept 13. 1866. Recorded 18 October 1866 in Book of Deeds No 8 page 207

1884, Stevenson Map

The land that is now Solano Canyon was originally purchased from the City of Los Angeles by Francisco Sales de Jésus Solano and his wife, María Rosa de las Mercedes Casanova, in 1866. Natives of Costa Rica, they built an adobe and used the land to live and work. Francisco Solano was a butcher in Sonora Town (just north of the Plaza Church along Calle Principal, or Main Street), and he moved his slaughterhouse and soap factory to the Canyon, while maintaining a corral on Main Street. The land was called Solano Ravine on maps by 1876, and the place where Francisco and Rosa lived was known as Solano Cañon. Solano Canyon became a true community after 1888, when Alfredo Solano, by then a prominent surveyor and the son of Francisco Solano and Rosa Casanova, subdivided the southernmost, 16-acre parcel of Francisco's property into the 100 lots that exist today.

1880s, Alfred Solano Residence

Photograph of the front street view of the large residence of Alfred Solano on Figueroa Street at the corner of Twenty-fourth Street?, Los Angeles, ca.1880-1889. The three-story Tudor home and lawn with trees (including palms) planted at intervals sits behind a low brick wall. Utility lines run over the adjacent sidewalk. Parts of some other houses are visible on the periphery of the imag

1884, Stevenson Map

Francisco Solano made three, separate land purchases from the City of Los Angeles on 13 September 1866. Two of the purchases were so-called Donation Lots: Lot 7 in Block 46 and Lot 2 in Block 45, shown as the two square blocks in blue in the map, above. [Stevenson, H. J., compiler. "Map of the City of Los Angeles". Washington, D.C.: United States. Surveyor General. ca. 1876.] Note the names of the ravines in the hills above Francisco's property: beginning at the Los Angeles River (located at the extreme upper-right-hand corner of the map and moving west), Reservoir Ravine is followed by Solano Ravine, then Cemetery Ravine, then Sulphur Ravine, and, finally Chavez Ravine (not shown on the map). Dodger Stadium was build almost on the "3" in M. Keller's lot in Block 45, in the middle of Cemetery Ravine. Dodger Stadium therefore, was not build in, or on, Chavez Ravine. (caption by SolanoCanyon.net).

1888, Solano Survey Map

Solano Avenue, Casanova Street, and the alley between them, were the original streets in what is now that portion of Solano Canyon below the Arroyo Seco Parkway (California State Highway 110, the Pasadena Freeway). Alfredo Solano named both streets; they appear for the first time on the map of his survey dated 24 April 1888, which subdivided the 16-acre tract that his father, Francisco Sales de Jésus Solano, purchased from the City of Los Angeles on 13 September 1866, and known as Solano Tract (Solano Tract No. 1 after Solano Tract No. 2 was deveioped in 1903) [Book of Deeds 8, 207]. Both Solano Avenue and Casanova Street, in the beginning, ran from Buena Vista Street—which is now North Broadway—northwest to the edge of the tract. Figueroa Street, which did not extend as far as Solano Canyon until 1940, would eventually cross just northwest of the top of the original property (at the right of the map, above, which has been rotated 90º to the right in order to show the street names clearly). Notice that, for the most part, Solano Tract was surrounded on three sides by Elysian Park. Solano Avenue was originally 60 feet wide; Casanova Street was originally 30 feet wide; and the alley between the two streets was originally 12 feet wide. (information from (http://solanocanyon.net/streets_solano_avenue.aspx)

1861-1949, María Agustina Solano Bouett

María Agustina Solano, dauther of Fancisco Solano and Rosa Casanova, married Guillermo Bouett, an "Oil Dealer" and, later, a Captain in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The Bouett family was originally from Mont-de-Marsan in the Aquitaine, France. Bouett Street is named after her.

1894, Pierce map

1894 Drawn and Lithographed by B. W. Pierce (portion)

Alfred Solano

If one person could be said to be the founder of the community now called Solano Canyon, it would be Alfredo Solano. Solano Canyon became a community after 1888, when Alfredo Solano, by then a prominent surveyor and the son of Francisco Sales de Jésus Solano and María Rosa de las Mercedes Casanova, subdivided the southern 16 acres of land to the south of the Stone Quarry Hills, what is now Elysian Park. This property was known as Solano Tract No. 1, and it is all of that part of Solano Canyon between Solano Avenue and Casanova Street and south of the Arroyo Seco Parkway. (caption from SolanoCanyon.net)

Guillermo 'William' Bouett

María Agustina Solano married Guillermo Bouett, an "Oil Dealer" and, later, a Captain in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The Bouett family was originally from Mont-de-Marsan in the Aquitaine, France.

Alfred Solano Residence

Residence of Alfred Solano on Figueroa Street at the corner of Twenty-fourth Street?, Los Angeles, [s.d.]