Who was G. Allan Hancock?
Captain George Allan Hancock inherited 4,400 acres of land which comprised the original Mexican land grant called Rancho La Brea from his father, Major Henry Hancock. The Hancock family owned and operated a refinery at Rancho La Brea between 1870 and 1890, commercially mining and exporting asphalt to local markets. At the turn of the 20th century, the Hancocks become wealthy with the onset of the oil boom in southern California. A businessman, railroad man, rancher, marine scientist and patron of the arts, G. Allan Hancock donated the 23 acres of Hancock Park to Los Angeles County in 1916 to preserve and exhibit the fossils exhumed from Rancho La Brea. Hancock’s parents, Henry and Ida, at one time lived in a house that was located adjacent to what is today the park’s Lake Pit.
