Name/Title
TENNENT FAMILY:RANCH PHOTOSDescription
In 1851, the Tennents moved into Pinole’s first wooden home, built with pre-cut lumber from Maine. With them came their Indian servant girls, Louisa and Delphina. Their large ranch occupied the surroundings of present-day Collins School. They raised prized horses and had a racetrack by the bay. Rafaela’s share of the rancho was the future downtown and waterfront properties, which they mapped and divided into blocks and lots. Pinole’s side streets along Tennent Avenue — Plum, Pear, Prune, and Peach — were named for their orchards.
The ranch was settled in 1850 north of the present I-80 freeway, and included today’s Collins School site; its orchards extended to what is now Old Town. By 1870, Tennent had 2,500 acres of land valued at $50,000, producing 9,000 bushels of winter wheat, 2,400 bushels of barley, 250 pounds of butter, 8,000 pounds of cheese, and 150 tons of hay per year.
Dr. Samuel J. Tennent’s descendants sold the property in the early 20th century and the original house was taken down. The ranch was a dairy for the Joe Silva family. Jimmy Cessilini married Silva’s daughter, Albertina, and a Spanish-style home was built in the 1920s. The ranch and orchard extended into present-day Pinole, with the large barn used for storing bales of hay needed to feed their many horses and livestock in the winter. The bunkhouse behind the home and slaughterhouse remained with the barn into the 1980s. Pinole Lanes, a bowling alley, occupies the south end of the ranch property in 2015.Made/Created
Date made
circa 1860 - circa 1986Copyright
Copyright Holder
Pinole Historical Society
