Richard O'Neill, the owner of a meat-packing plant turned cattleman,
bought Rancho Trabuco and Rancho Mission Viejo with the help of his
friend, James C. Flood, the "Silver King of Nevada," and owner
of the Comstock Lode silver mine. The two men were equal partners in
the enterprise, and O'Neill worked out his half as resident manager.
In 1907, at 80 years of age, he obtained title to the ranch from Flood's
son. O'Neill's heirs continued to farm and raise cattle and increase
their holdings through a partnership with Flood's descendants. But
in 1940 they decided to divide the land.
By 1942 the 52,000 acre share owned by Richard O'Neill, Jr., was called
Rancho Mission Viejo. After he died in 1944, and after years of legal
complications dating to the 1920's, O'Neill's widow, Marguerite, obtained
full control of the O'Neill land. Richard and Alice O'Neill Avery, Richard
and Marguerite's descendants, sold 10,000 acres of Rancho Mission Viejo
in 1963 to Donald Bren, Philip J. Reilly and James Toepfer, who formed
the Mission Viejo Co. When the master-planned community of Mission Viejo
was approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the
Deane brothers were hired to build the first houses. The Deane Homes
were built between Jeronimo Road on the north, La Paz Road on the south,
Chrisanta Drive on the west, and Spadra land on the east. La Paz was the
only road into the Deane Homes, and into Mission Viejo, until 1969, when
the first stretch of Marguerite Parkway opened up, connecting La Paz with
Oso Parkway.
(In the 1970s, it was common knowledge that the Mission Viejo Co. had
been purchased by Phillip Morris, Editor)