Rancho Nipomo was a 37,888-acre (153.33 km2) Mexican land grant in present day San Luis Obispo County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to William Goodwin Dana.

[1] William Goodwin Dana (May 5, 1797 – Feb 11, 1858) was born in Boston.

Captain Dana went to sea early in life and arrived in Santa Barbara in 1825.

[6][7] With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican–American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored.

As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Nipomo was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852,[8][9] and the grant was patented to William G. Dana in 1868.