1880s–1920s
The Orchard Valley
Before the tract houses, the San Fernando Valley was sold by the acre. In 1887 the Lankershim Ranch Land and Water Co. advertised 12,000 acres in lots of 2½ to 40 acres, at $35 to $165 an acre.
Around 1908 the Lankershim Development Company mailed a painted bird's-eye postcard of the Lankershim and Van Nuys Ranchos, looking in from the Pacific over the Santa Monica Mountains. A decade later Little Farms Magazine of Los Angeles sold the same dream as "A Little Land and a Living" in California.
The McKeon Canning Company opened in Burbank in 1922 and packed the Valley's fruit under the Burbank Brand label.
Our framed print reproduces the Ranchos postcard. It is cleaned of dust and enlarged, never repainted.
- Lankershim ad
- 1887
- Ranchos postcard
- c. 1908
- Little Farms card
- c. 1919
- McKeon Canning, Burbank
- from 1922
The Orchard Valley collection
Not affiliated with any current business using the McKeon or Burbank names.
