ranchos were subdivided and sold off by heirs to an increasing number of arriving immigrants and settlers. The Homestead Act of 1862 had brought many newcomers to settle in California. Levi Gould Stanchfield, born in Leeds, Maine in 1841, established a ranch at Punta Gorda in 1875 where he raised sheep, grew lima beans and built a ranch house at Mussel Rock. Stanchfield was married to Luisa Arenas. Her father, Luis Arenas, held several land grants, and in 1838 was Mayor of Los Angeles. Her mother Josepfa Palomares was the sister of Ygnacio Palomares one of the first settlers of the San Gabriel Valley. Stanchfield sold the property to Charles. E. Ablett in 1879. Ablett, born in England, was well known as a druggist in Santa Barbara and a key figure in the homesteading activity of the Punta Gorda area from the 1880s on. At this time, the La Conchita section of the Southern Pacific railroad coast route was almost completed and the village of Punta was established. Among the founding families of Punta were the Callis from Kentucky; the Mullins from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada; and the Gaynors from Ireland. Members of these families were prominent in local history for the next sixty years. From 1880-1916 a U.S. post office was sited in Punta, and Punta Gorda served as a stop for both the stagecoach and the railroad. Charles E. Ablett served as the first postmaster. In 1883 the Rincon School district was established and classes were first held in the home of Robert Callis with nine pupils in attendance. The 1883 census listed 17 children living in Punta. In 1890 the name was changed to the Punta Gorda School District, and the first school structure was built in the village. The Ventura County Register of 1890, as well as the Rincon district electoral records from 1900–1916, reflects a varied mix of ethnicities among the residents in Punta and the Rincon area. A right of way was granted to the Southern Pacific railroad in 1887 and narrow ledges were blasted for the tracks. Since there was no room for a wagon road after that, the idea of building a series of wooden causeway around the cliffs was first developed in 1910. The idea was taken from the European models that existed at the time in Monte Carlo. The "causeway," a timber pile trestle with a roadway, was built