A plaque across from the Old Plaza of Los Angeles, at Olvera street, commemorates the founding of the city: “On September 4, 1781, eleven families of pobladores (44 persons including children) arrived at this place from the Gulf of California to establish a pueblo which was to become the City of Los Angeles”. The Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, also known as El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Park, is the historic district of Los Angeles, centered around the old plaza, known before as El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles: it was the city’s center under Spanish (1781-1821), Mexican (1821-1847) and United States (after 1847) rule through most of the 19th Century. The area was designated a state historic monument in 1953 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.