Juana Briones bought the 4,400-acre Rancho La Purísima Concepción in 1844 from two Native Californians of Mission Santa Clara. She fought for years to keep her title and later shared the land among her children, who bore their father’s surname, Miranda.
She is remembered in Juana Briones Elementary School, Juana Briones Park and streets named Miranda in Palo Alto. Part of her ranch house survived on Old Adobe Road until 2011.