As of the census , the city population was 62, Soon after, a settlement grew up near the mission called Branciforte , which came to be known across Alta California for its lawlessness. With the Mexican secularization of the Californian missions in , the former mission was divided and granted as rancho grants. The completion of the South Pacific Coast Railroad in and the creation of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in solidified the city's status as a seaside resort community , while the establishment of the University of California, Santa Cruz in made Santa Cruz a college town.
Indigenous people have been living in the Santa Cruz region for at least 12, years. The Awaswas tribe was made up of no more than 1, people and their language is now extinct. The only remnants of their spoken language are three local place names: Aptos , Soquel and Zayante ; and the name of a native shellfish β abalone.
At the time of colonization, the Indigenous people belonged to the Uypi tribe of the Awaswas -speaking dialectical group. They called the area Aulinta. The party forded the river probably near where the Soquel Avenue bridge now stands and camped nearby on October 17, Next morning, the expedition set out again, and Crespi noted that, "Five hundred steps after we started we crossed a good arroyo of running water which descends from some high hills where it rises.
Santa Cruz was the twelfth mission to be founded in California. The creek, however, later lost the name, and is known today as Laurel Creek because it parallels Laurel Street. It is the main feeder of Neary Lagoon.
Its original main street is now North Branciforte Avenue. Villa de Branciforte later lost its civic status, and in the area was annexed into the City of Santa Cruz. In the s, newly independent Mexico assumed control of the area. The pueblo designation was never made official, however. The new name did not catch on and Santa Cruz remained Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz mission, along with the rest of the twenty-one Alta California missions, was secularized within a few years after Even before secularization, the Native American population had declined.
