Rancho Seco, California

 place with historical importance, CDP - Census Designated Place

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Rancho Seco is a post-WWII jackrabbit homestead community. Thanks to the Small Tracts Act of 1938 and for a small fee per acre up to five acres, Americans could buy "useless" federal land being purged from the public domain and build a small home. For many, it was their first chance after years of renting to own their own property. But unlike homesteaders of the past, these mid-century homesteaders who were mostly from the Los Angeles area primarily used their cabins as weekend getaways; they did not have to live off the land as required by the original homestead laws and could prove up their leases through regular weekend visits.

Taking advantage of the act would not take off until after wartime rationing ended. About 15 to 20 people, many of them musicians from North Hollywood and Burbank, arrived at Ross Roger’s ranch on Neuralia Road in the spring of 1950 to choose and apply for their lots. The Rancho Seco Corporation was formed as a cooperative for the water supply in May 1950. The first “campground site” was erected in August 1951 and the first permanent building built in September 1951. Some of the cabins here have been passed down through families. One early member of Rancho Seco Homestead Community was Dr. Roy Huntley Chapin, lot #48, for whom the mineral chapinite was named, with a street in Rancho Seco named in his honor.

jackrabbithomestead.com
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