In 1965, Louis Lesserin laid the groundwork for the first phase of construction of the master-planned community of Phillips Ranch. Pomona’s southwestern quadrant is the location where you’ll find it if you’re looking for it in Los Angeles County, California. The Pomona (SR 60), Orange (SR 57), and Chino Valley (SR 91) freeways are located in close proximity to one another (SR 71). The entire region is included in the 91766 zip code, which is used for mailing addresses. Phillips Ranch is located around four miles to the southwest of Pomona’s core business district and is a neighborhood that features a considerable amount of diversity. Since “Phillips Ranch, California” is recognized as a valid address by the United States Postal Service, many residents of the area use it in place of “Pomona, California.” Because of its widespread notoriety, the neighborhood of Phillips Ranch is frequently substituted for the actual city itself in many contexts.
The portion of Louis Phillips’ ranch that is today known as Phillips Ranch was once a part of another property owned by Louis Phillips. In 1864, Phillips bought the southernmost 22,340 acres (90.4 km2) of Rancho San Jose from two businessmen who had previously purchased the ranch from its original owner, Ricardo Vejar. Phillips paid $90,400 for the land. It is not known how much wealth the exceptionally reserved Phillips family accumulated during this time period. In 1892, in response to a question from a reporter for the Pomona Progress, Harris Newmark stated that the most wealthy person in the county was an unassuming man named Phillips.
In 1964, Louis Lesser Enterprises, Inc. acquired Phillips Ranch, which at the time was one of the most extensive stretches of land in Los Angeles County that had not yet been developed. There are now 10,000 residences in that area. In 1964, Lesser purchased 2.24 square miles of land that would later be referred to as “the historic Phillips Ranch.” This land is located southwest of Pomona (9,070 m2) After the sale of 5,000 acres (20 km2) of ranch land in 1875, the city of Pomona, California was established.
Lesser simultaneously constructed ten thousand residential units. The region was a portion of the Mexican land grant of 40,000 acres (160 km2) known as Rancho San Jose, which Ricardo Vejar was presented with in the year 1837. In 1864, Vejar sold the ranch to Louis Phillips, a Prussian cowboy who had moved to California during the gold rush. Phillips had arrived in the state at a time when gold was being mined there. Construction started in 1865, and Lesser’s brother Alvin served as the head of development during that time.
After the end of the Civil War, the ranch was an important stop along the Southern Trail, which went from the east coast of the United States to Yuma, California, and connected with the Pacific Coast Highway. The Phillips Ranch Rubottom Hotel, which was situated along the trail, evolved into a center of Saturday night wild west activities. It featured a total of fourteen saloons in addition to three opium dens. Pomona College, along with other religious and educational institutions, was instrumental in wiping out the element of lawlessness.