Felipe de Neve


Felipe de Neve y Padilla was the fourth governor of Las Californias, a province of New Spain, from 1775 to 1782. Felipe de Neve is considered a founder of Los Angeles, California and helped to settle towns of Santa Barbara and San José whose surrounding communities became California cities. In 1781, de Neve issued the first rules regarding governance of secular pueblos like Los Angeles, the "Regulations for the Government of the Province of the Californias"

Career highlights

First capital

Felipe de Neve was appointed governor of the Californias in 1775. For two years he was based at Loreto, Baja California, then moved to Monterey, California.

New settlements

;Las Californias
It was during de Neve's administration that Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga is credited with building the Presidio of San Francisco, after the site was selected by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776. Moraga is also known as the founder of El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the present day city of San Jose, California. On 29 November 1777, Moraga founded San José on orders from Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, the Spanish Viceroy of New Spain. It was the first Spanish colonial pueblo in the northern region of Las Californias Province, which became its own Alta California Province in 1804. The city served as a farming community to support the Presidio of San Francisco and the Presidio of Monterey.
In 1781, later in de Neve's tenure, he founded the Pueblo de Los Ángeles. Governor de Neve had applied to Viceroy Bucareli for permission to establish a settlement near the Los Angeles River, where Father Juan Crespí had met local Tongva Indians. With the viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from The Crown, Charles III of Spain, to found and establish the second pueblo in upper Las Californias, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula, the present day city of Los Angeles, California.
During de Neve's tenure as governor, he quarreled constantly with the missionaries' leader, padre Junípero Serra, over the secularization of the Missions and the redistribution of land to the Mission Indian neophytes and soldiers. During his tenure four missions were founded: Mission San Francisco de Asís also called Mission Dolores, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Mission Santa Clara de Asís and Mission San Buenaventura.

Comandante general

Governor de Neve's success as provincial governor won him promotion in 1783 to succeed Teodoro de Croix as Comandante General of the Provincias Internas, a position that had authority over all the northern provinces. He held that position until his death in 1784.

Honors

Statue

A 7½ foot cast bronze was installed in 1932 at , by the City of Los Angeles. The statue is mounted on a 4-foot boulder and includes a bronze plaque with the following inscription:
"FELIPE DE NEVE. SPANISH GOVERNOR OF THE CALIFORNIAS 1775-82.  IN 1781, ON ORDERS OF KING CARLOS III OF SPAIN, FELIPE DE NEVE SELECTED A SITE NEAR THE RIVER PORCIUNCULA AND LAID OUT THE TOWN OF EL PUEBLO DE LA REINA DE LOS ANGELES, ONE OF TWO SPANISH PUEBLOS HE FOUNDED IN ALTA CALIFORNIA."