Wilder Ranch got its start in 1866 when Moses Meder bought a large tract of land in the Rancho REfugio. He got out of the dairy business five years later and sold it to Deloss Wilder and Levi Baldwin. They worked the dairy ranch itogether until 1885 and then Deloss continued the dairy operations solo. His specialty was sweet butter which was sold up and down the coast. Wilder and his sons installed several innovations in the ranch including water powered wood shop, automated bean cutter and pumpkin crusher and had the only generator on the coast. When changes occurred in the dairy industry after the depression, the Wilder Family went into ranching and cattle instead. In 1965 a developer bought the ranch intent on developing it into housing. That was blocked by the Coastal Commission and the ranch was eventually sold to the Parks system. Wilder Ranch recently opened to the public to learn about farming in the 1800s and there is hope that it will be open as an educational center in the future.