The Crane House, located at the corner of Polk and Second Street, was built in the mid- to late-1800s.  It was originally part of the Oxcart Tavern.  Sometime during the 1870s, Encarnacíon Ortega Crane purchased the home.  She lived there until her death in 1894.  Upon the death of her first husband, Don Jose Maria Sanchez in 1852, she became the wealthiest woman in California.  Unfortunately, she and her six children were cheated out of this fortune.  She married five times, and all of her husbands died tragically.   William Crane Roddy, a Crane descendent, lived in the house until 1996.  The house remained in the family for 140 years.

• Historical Resources Inventory and Context Statement, City of San Juan Bautista, 2005-2006
  
• Information plaque by City of San Juan Bautista Historical Society, ca. 1997

• Certified Local Government Grant Historical Resources Inventory and Context Statement, City of San Juan Bautista, 2005-2006, see document pp. 35-36 (PDF pp. 45-46):
  • http://www.san-juan-bautista.ca.us/PDFs/Planning/SJB_Historic_Context_Report_0906_FINAL.pdf
    
•  Home #41 on the San Juan Bautista Points of Interest Tour (http://www.san-juan-bautista.ca.us/visitingPointsInterest2.htm)