1851 – Lugos sell Rancho San Bernardino to Charles C. Rich and Amasa Lyman of San Bernardino settlement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who buy all land surrounding Asistencia, and build more ditches to support the area and the developing community of Lugonia.
- The region’s first orange trees were planted in 1857 by Mormon colony member Anson Van Leuven. That same year, many Mormons went back to Salt Lake City because Brigham Young feared the interruption by the US military, and subsequently sold their San Bernardino land to non-Mormons.
- The Mormons established the City of San Bernardino with a gridded pattern where it currently stands, and, later, founded the County of San Bernardino.
1853 – Rancho San Bernardino became the first polling site in the new San Bernardino County.
1857 – Bishop Nathan C. Tenney is assigned to oversee agricultural operations and moves into the Estancia with his wife, Olive. Mrs. Tenney became a teacher in a newly organized school located in one of the rooms of the complex. The area became known as the Mission District, or Old San Bernardino.
In 1854, Louis and Henry Cram established a furniture factory near the Asistencia using water from the Mill Creek zanja to power their machinery. For two years, they manufactured chairs with cowhide seats, tables, cupboards and bedposts from timber that grew along the zanja and in the foothills. Interestingly, George Beattie recorded that Louis Cram made a statement that “the Indians were still coming to the chapel to worship while he was there.” At this point in time, many Native people who were subject to the mission system freely practiced Christianity, and places of worship were placed in some “Indian Villages”, such as the community in Crafton near Mentone, for this purpose.
