It was notable as the seat of the wealthiest member of the Yorba family and as the largest adobe hacienda in Alta California.

On August 1, 1834, Mexican Governor José Figueroa granted to Bernardo Yorba 13,328 acres (53.9 km2) on the north side of the Santa Ana River,[2] about four miles upstream from the José Antonio Yorba hacienda "El Refugio" on Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana.

Around the time of Bernardo's death in 1858, a small adobe chapel, Iglesia de San Antonio, was built about 1,000 yards southwest of the residence.

[8] About the time the adobe chapel was built, a plot of land on the hill overlooking the hacienda to its southeast was set aside as the Yorba Cemetery.

Bernardo's remains, those of his second wife, and eight other Yorbas were re-interred there in 1923 when the Old Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles was closed due to construction.

Provisions were brought all the way from San Francisco for the hacienda; dates, dried fruits, fancy crackers and candy were also supplied to surrounding ranches.

In 1917 and again in late 1919, Don Meadows and Roch Bradshaw, two local students, visited the ruins to measure, photograph and study the site.

Don Meadows would later write a short account of their explorations, published as "The House of Bernardo Yorba" by the Orange County Historical Society.

[11] In 1926 the property's owner, Samuel Kraemer, demolished the building to prevent further vandalism, and plowed in a new barley field on the site.

According to the plaque, the base was furnished by the Placentia Round Table Club and supposedly contains some of the original adobe bricks from the hacienda structure[15] salvaged from the barranca where it was dumped.