<P> The name first given to the settlement is debated . Historian Doyce B. Nunis has said that the Spanish named it "El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles" ("The Town of the Queen of the Angels"). For proof, he pointed to a map dated 1785, where that phrase was used . Frank Weber, the diocesan archivist, replied, however, that the name given by the founders was "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Porciuncula", or "the town of Our Lady of the Angels of Porciuncula ." and that the map was in error . </P> <P> The town grew as soldiers and other settlers came into town and stayed . In 1784 a chapel was built on the Plaza . The pobladores were given title to their land two years later . By 1800, there were 29 buildings that surrounded the Plaza, flat - roofed, one - story adobe buildings with thatched roofs made of tule . By 1821 Los Angeles had grown into a self - sustaining farming community, the largest in Southern California . </P> <P> Each settler received four rectangles of land, suertes, for farming, two irrigated plots and two dry ones . When the settlers arrived, the Los Angeles floodplain was heavily wooded with willows and oaks . The Los Angeles river flowed all year . Wildlife was plentiful, including deer, antelope, and black bears, and even an occasional grizzly bear . There were abundant wetlands and swamps . Steelhead and salmon swam the rivers . </P> <P> The first settlers built a water system consisting of ditches (zanjas) leading from the river through the middle of town and into the farmlands . Indians were employed to haul fresh drinking water from a special pool farther upstream . The city was first known as a producer of fine wine grapes . The raising of cattle and the commerce in tallow and hides would come later . </P>

City of southern california incorporated into los angeles in 1911