Congdon House History

The Congdon House was built in 1878 (1) by Joel Rathburn Congdon, the first white settler in San Juan Capistrano. Today, it is considered the oldest wooden structure standing in the city.

In 1868, Joel Congdon purchased the land from native indians, 360 acres, at the price of $1.25 an acre, and built a small home. The indians had claimed to received the land as a gift from the nearby missionaries. However, the United States did not recognize the transfer of title from the mission to the indians, and by 1868, some 34 years after the mission period ended, the indians had no documents to prove they owned the land. The United States felt the Spanish Dons, who took over the land from the missionaries, held title. In 1876, Congdon was forced to pay the spanish landowners in order to gain an actual land patent.

In 1878, after reaping huge profits from his walnut crops, Congdon decided to build a larger house for his growing family. His brother-in-law, J.P. Fuller helped him take a wagon up to San Bernardino, selected redwood lumber, and brought it back. The foundation of the house consisted of sandstone bricks taken from the ruins of San Juan Capistrano Mission. Iron nails shipped from San Francisco were used in the construction of the house.

The first floor of the house consisted of a living room with an open fireplace, a kitchen, a washroom, and a parlor. The second floor contained three bedrooms. Later on, an enclosed porch was added connecting the kitchen and washroom.

In 1887, Congdon sold the house and land to a Los Angeles banker named "Major Bonebrake" for the sum of $60,000.00 (2), and moved his family to Santa Ana.

In 1955, the land and the house was purchased by Sanji Kinoshita, and placed the land into a city agricultural preserve in 1977 to protect from development. The land was passed down to Kinoshita's son, Shigeru, who operated the land as a farm named "Kinoshita Farms".

In 1991, the City purchased land and operates it under the name of "Kinoshita Farm Agricultural Preserve". It now leases the land to a farmer who operates under the business name of "South Coast Farms".

The house was inhabited until 1975, by Shigeru's parents. Since then, the house has fallen into a state of disrepair. In September of 2000, the City awarded a contract to Christopher Construction to restore the house.