Pioneer Californian- “Alcalde” – Founder Grantee of Rancho Monte del Diablo
Don Salvio Pacheco’s Adobe was built in the early 1840’s as headquarters for the 17,921 acre Rancho Monte del Diablo he was granted in 1834. Constructed of local adobe brick and finished with fine woodwork imported from Spain, the main structure had two large ground floor rooms; six bedrooms were upstairs. Primary out-buildings on the north side included the dining room, kitchen, and servant quarters. The barn, corral, and bull ring were further on the north. Wood-frame guest apartments were on the south side. A swimming pool and dance floor were near the artesian wells just to the west. The Pacheco family retained title to the Adobe until the early 1930’s. It has been sold and remodeled several times. Recent occupants have been a series of restaurants and small banks. It is now leased by City of Concords’s Leisure Services Department. Located at 1870 Adobe Street it is designated as Concord Landmark 1-14-76/4 and State Landmark No. 515. Juan Salvio Pacheco II was direct descendant of California’s earliest settlers: his father and grandfather had participated in a de Anza expedition to Alta California.
Born on July 15, 1793 in Monterey, Juan Salvio enlisted in the Militia in 1810, serving 17 years at Monterey and San Francisco Presidos, and San Jose Pueblo. He married Maria Juana Flores in 1817 at Mission Santa Clara. In 1827 Don Salvio began civilian service at San Jose in many significant capacities; among them, “Alcalde” or Mayor. By 1829, Don Salvio and Dona Juana had eight children. Fernando Jose Maria, the oldest of the six survivors, was sent in 1835 to take possession of the Rancho for the family. The other children included: Maria Sirica de Altagracia, Pedro Ignacio, twins: Salvador and Maria Delores Manuela, and Maria Conception. All moved to the new Adobe in 1846. Salvador eventually inherited the Adobe; Manuela married Francisco Galindo had a site adjacent to the adobe surveyed in 1868 for the new village of Todos Santos. In 1869 they offered free lots in Todos Santos as an alternative for residents and merchants of nearby Pacheco town which had been diminished in importance by fires, floods, earthquakes, and sitting up of its deep water channel. The new village gradually became known as Concord after 1869.By the time of Don Salvio’s death in August 1876, he had sold or given away much of his Rancho. Don Salvio Pacheco is buried in the Martinez Cemetary.
