The Tongva people lived in the locale, and theSan Fernando Valley and Los Angeles basin, for 8,000 years. The Tongvan settlement Cahuengaused the springs and marsh for water, fishing, hunting, harvesting, and building supplies (tuleplants).

After the Spanish conquest in the 1790s of Las Californias the San Fernando Valley, including the "Toluca Lake locale" became the extended property of the Mission San Fernando Rey de España. After the 1823 Independence of Mexico, the secularization of missions in Alta California included the issuing of a Mexican land grant for Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando. The extreme eastern end of the lake was within the 1843 Rancho Providencia grant to Vincente de la Osa.