Editing Santa Maria, California (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Santa Maria, California}}
[[File:Juan_Pacífico_Ontiveros.png|thumb|left|upright|Santa Maria was named by noted [[Californio]] ranchero Juan Pacífico Ontiveros.]]
[[File:11 Ethel Pope Aud front (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Ethel Pope Auditorium]]
[[File:Architect and engineer (1934) (14578059319).jpg|thumb|upright|left|City Hall, 1934]]
The Santa Maria Valley, stretching from the [[Santa Lucia Mountains]] toward the [[Pacific Ocean]], was the homeland of the [[Chumash people]] for several thousand years. The [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] made their homes on the slopes of the surrounding hills among the [[Quercus agrifolia|oak]]s, on the banks of the Santa Maria River among the [[Platanus racemosa|sycamore]]s, and along the coast. They had unique plank-built boats, called [[Tomol]], which they used for ocean fishing.

In 1769, the [[Gaspar de Portolá|Portolá Expedition]] passed through the Santa Maria Valley during the first [[Spanish people|Spanish]] land exploration up the coast of [[Las Californias]] Province. [[Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa]] was established just north of the valley in 1772, and [[Mission La Purísima Concepción]] was established near present-day [[Lompoc]] in 1787. Rather than rich soil, white settlers were attracted here by the possibility of free land. In 1821, after the [[Mexican War of Independence]], the mission lands in Santa Maria Valley were made available for private ownership under a [[Ranchos of California|Mexican land grant]] called [[Rancho Punta de Laguna]]. At the end of the [[Mexican–American War|Mexican War]] in 1848, California [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo|was ceded]] to the United States, and was granted statehood with the [[Compromise of 1850]].

In the late 19th century, the area's rich soil attracted farmers and other settlers. By the end of the century, the Santa Maria River Valley had become one of the most productive agricultural areas in the state. Agriculture remains a key component of the economy for the city and the entire region.<ref name=ci.santa-maria.ca.us>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.santa-maria.ca.us/history.html|title=A Bit About the History of the City of Santa Maria|access-date=July 14, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105113623/http://www.ci.santa-maria.ca.us/history.html |archive-date=November 5, 2012 }}</ref>

Between 1869 and 1874, four of the valley's settlers, Rudolph Cook, John Thornburg, Isaac Fesler (for whom Fesler Jr. High School is named), and Isaac Miller (for whom Miller Elementary School is named), built their homes near each other at the present corners on Broadway and Main Street. The townsite was recorded in Santa Barbara in 1875. The new town was named Grangerville, then changed to Central City. It became Santa Maria on February 18, 1885, since mail was often being sent by mistake to [[Central City, Colorado]]. Santa Maria was chosen from the name Juan Pacifico Ontiveros had given to his property 25 years earlier.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}} Streets named after the four settlers now form a 6-block square centered at Broadway and Main Street, the center of town.

[[Oil exploration]] began in 1888, leading to large-scale discoveries at the turn of the 20th century. In 1902, [[Union Oil]] discovered the large [[Orcutt Oil Field]] in the [[Solomon Hills]] south of town, and a number of smaller companies also began pumping oil. Two years later, Union Oil had 22 wells in production. Other significant discoveries followed, including the [[Lompoc Oil Field]] in 1903 and the [[Cat Canyon Oil Field|Cat Canyon field]] in 1908. Over the next 80 years more large oil fields were found, and thousands of oil wells drilled and put into production.<ref>{{cite web|last=Martellotti|first=Patricia|date=September 8, 2021|title=Santa Maria Cemetery: Crews discover oil well abandoned in 1929|url=https://keyt.com/news/2021/09/08/santa-maria-cemetery-crews-discover-oil-well-abandoned-in-1929/|access-date=September 9, 2021|website=NewsChannel 3-12|language=en-US}}</ref> Oil development intensified in the 1930s, with the discovery of the Santa Maria Valley Oil Field in 1934,<ref name="2008rpt">{{cite web | title = 2008 Report of the state oil & gas supervisor | work = Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources | publisher = California Department of Conservation | year = 2009 | url = ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/annual_reports/2008/PR06_Annual_2008.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170525054948/ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/annual_reports/2008/PR06_Annual_2008.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = May 25, 2017 | access-date = January 3, 2010 }} p. 63</ref> right underneath the southern and western parts of the city of Santa Maria, which spurred the city's growth even further. By 1957 there were 1,775 oil wells in operation in the [[Santa Maria Valley]], producing more than $640 million worth of oil.