In 1845, retired presidio soldier Nemecio Dominguez was granted 356 acres of Santa Barbara’s pueblo lands in Montecito, known as Rancho San Leandro. 

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In 1868, seven years before his death, Dominguez sold Rancho San Leandro to Edward Doty who very soon after sold it to Jarvis Swift, a hotel operator from Nevada. It was under Swift, and then his son James, that major improvements were made on the ranch.

Further ownership of Rancho San Leandro changes followed.

Local attorney George Gould, purchased the property and was responsible for putting in the two arched stone bridges that still grace the property. The Gould family grew deep roots in the Montecito community. Clara and Frederick Gould, lived in an Egyptian mansion that was built in roughly the same location as 296 Las Entradas Drive. Clara, an early donor to the Natural History Museum and other civic projects in Santa Barbara, live there until her death in 1948. 

 

In 1916, Herbert Cox purchased the property from Gould and rechristened the property as Ennisbrook. Elmer J. Boeseke Jr. bought Ennisbrook in 1926 and it became a center for local polo, with the Santa Barbara Polo Club using the facilities Cox built until the early 1930s.

 

Pat Bourgeois bought Ennisbrook in 1986. After a short two years, the county approved their plans to build 63 homes on the former Rancho San Leandro. In order to build, the developers had to open Montecito’s first nature preserve, 44 wooded acres along San Ysidro Creek. The preserve opened to the public in 1990 and is a favorite with hikers.