Santa Clara County

Rick Sprain

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781439664049
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia de Norteamérica

Originally inhabited by the Ohlone, Santa Clara County was one of 27 counties created when California achieved statehood in September 1850. The first settlements began when Fr. Junípero Serra established the Mission Santa Clara de Asís in 1777. For over 100 years, the valley was known for its rich soil and thriving farm region. In the 1940s and 1950s, William Hewlett and David Packard, along with Lockheed, IBM, and hundreds of other companies, altered the scope of Santa Clara County forever. With the influx of tech jobs and ensuing building boom, the county went from "Valley of the Heart's Delight" to "Silicon Valley."

One

TOWNS AND
COMMUNITIES OF
SANTA CLARA COUNTY

PAST AND PRESENT

AGNEW, STREET SCENE, POSTMARKED OCTOBER 23, 1912 (DIVIDED BACK POSTCARD). The small town was named after Abram Agnew, an early pioneer in Santa Clara County. In the 1870s, Agnew donated four acres of land for a Southern Pacific Coast Railroad station and began laying out the new town. In 1889, the State of California established a hospital in Agnew to treat the mentally ill. The City of Santa Clara annexed Agnew in 1980, and the state closed down the hospital in the 1970s. In 1996, the State of California sold the land to Sun Microsystems, which located its corporate headquarters there while preserving many of the original buildings. Although no longer used, the old train depot is still standing. (Published by Edward H. Mitchell.)

ABOVE: PORT ALVISO, POSTMARKED JUNE 29, 1910 (HAND-COLORED POSTCARD); BELOW: THE NEW PORT, C. 1910 (DIVIDED BACK POSTCARD). The city of Alviso was incorporated in 1852 and soon became the shipping port for San Jose and the rest of Santa Clara County. Steamboats regularly traveled between San Francisco and Alviso, but boat traffic began declining in the 1860s with the railroad coming to the county. The town of Alviso was absorbed into the city of San Jose on March 12, 1968. (Above, published by M. Rieder, Publ.)

ABOVE: ALVISO, SOUTH BAY YACHT CLUB, C. 1915 (REAL-PHOTO POSTCARD); BELOW: C. 1905 (REAL-PHOTO POSTCARD). Founded in 1888, the South Bay Yacht Club is one of the oldest in the Bay Area. It was started by 35 wealthy local businessmen who originally called it the South Bay Yachting Association. The clubhouse was built in 1902 and was moved to its current site in the mid-1980s due to realignment of the levees. (Above, published by E. Hess; below, courtesy California Room, San José Public Library.)

CAMPBELL, GRAMMAR SCHOOL, 1900–1910 (REAL-PHOTO POSTCARD). Constructed in 1896 on the northeast corner of Winchester and Rincon Avenues, the first grammar school (seen here) was replaced in 1916. This school only lasted a few years and was replaced in 1922. The third grammar school closed in 1964 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. (Courtesy Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, San José State University.)

CAMPBELL, UNION HIGH SCHOOL, C. 1908 (REAL-PHOTO POSTCARD). The original Campbell High School opened on September 14, 1900, and was located on the second floor of the Campbell Grammar School. In 1904, principal Fred Smith moved the high school to a new building on the southeast corner of Winchester and Campbell Avenues. Then, in 1936, the high school moved to the northwest corner of the same intersection until 1980, when the district closed the school. (Published by Alice Hare, courtesy Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, San José State University.)

CAMPBELL, FLOOD, C. 1911 (REAL-PHOTO POSTCARDS). Over a two-day period in March 1911, Campbell residents saw over 13 inches of rain pour down on their town. The torrential rainstorm caused the Los Gatos Creek to flood its banks and flow into the surrounding countryside, inundating downtown businesses. (Both, courtesy Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, San José State University.)

CAMPBELL, CURRY BUILDING, POSTMARKED SEPTEMBER 6, 1912 (DIVIDED BACK POSTCARD). Built around the time this postcard was mailed, the B.O. Curry Building is located at 401–415 East Campbell Avenue. Curry used the building, constructed in the Mission Revival style, for his real estate and insurance businesses. For six years, from 1914 to 1920, the Curry Building was also the Campbell Post Office. (Published by Souvenir Publishing.)

CUPERTINO, GENERAL STORE, C. 1915 (REAL-PHOTO POSTCARD). First known as West Side, the small farming community settled around the crossroads now known as De Anza and Steven Creek Boulevards. In 1898, the town changed its name to Cupertino after a local creek with the same name. Soon after, the Home Union Store also changed its name to the Cupertino Store and relocated to the northeast corner of the crossroads. (Courtesy California History Center, De Anza College.)

CUPERTINO, VIEW FROM HOO HOO HILL, C. 1920 (REAL-PHOTO POSTCARD). The Hoo Hoo is a fraternity made up of people in the lumber industry who constructed a lodge for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Towns and Communities of Santa Clara County: Past and Present
• Santa Cruz Mountain Communities: Lost Towns in the Mountains
• Parks and Recreation: Having Fun and Relaxing
• Getting There: Roads and Highways
• Hitting the Rails: Railroading throughout the County
• Agriculture: Where It All Began
• Earthquake of 1906: The 5:12 a.m. Awakening
• Other Cards from Santa Clara County: From Auto Racing to True Crime