Encinitas: Our History and People

O L I V E N H A I N
Olivenhain, “olive grove”, is a beautiful name with a contrary meaning. Open spaces and lots
of it...land as far as the eye could see. A man could homestead 160 acres. Many tough families
did try to make a go of it growing the “promised” olives, but alas there was a lack sufficient water.
This land was more arid than grove-like. Five years later the population dropped from three
hundred-ten new settlers down to just eighty die-hard farmers who chose to remain on the
parched land. Wells were dug, but eventually dry farming was introduced with lima beans.
Springing up over the rolling hills came shanties, a local school, a town hall and a hotel. Some
of the descendants of those hearty early Olivenhain pioneers still live in the area. They hold the
rights to be buried in their own private cemetery. The Olivenhain Town Hall is still the center
piece of community activity. Locals gather yearly to celebrate their German roots with an
authentic Oktoberfest. Water did eventually come via the pipe-line, but not until 1961.
Immediately the area boomed. Large estates replaced grasslands and fields. The Colony
Olivenhain still has a farm feeling though with horses, goats, turkeys, chickens and a few cattle
in the back yards of many of the properties on this quiet rolling “back county”.
G
The Olivenhain Town Hall, built in
1894, was the main gathering place
for settlers. It was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
in 1993.
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