History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 27

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928

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Pending this matter the clerk was author- ized to negotiate with the San Jose Common Council for the temporary use of the second

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

story of the city hall on Market Street for a court room. This resulted in a two years' lease, in return for which the county gave the city the use of a portion of the lot at the cor- ner of San Fernando and Second Streets. The exchange was effected in August, 1860. In the latter part of this year Levi Goodrich pre- sented plans for a new building. The plans were adopted and he received the premium of $100 offered therefor. In March, 1861, the board of supervisors asked Hon. A. L. Rhodes, state senator, to procure the passage of an act by the Legislature authorizing the county to issue bonds to pay for the building. They also directed Mr. Goodrich to prepare work- ing drawings.

The lease of the city hall expired in 1862. At that time Martin Murphy was finishing his brick building on Market Street-the pro- perty now mainly occupied by Hart's depart- ment store. He offered to rent to the county the upper floor of these buildings for $190 per month and finish them in a manner suitable for use as county offices, the large hall at the corner of Market and El Dorado Streets to be used as a court room. The county accepted the offer and took a five years' lease, with the privilege of renewal. This was the last loca- tion of the court house prior to the construc- tion of the present building.

Two years elapsed before anything was done toward the erection of a new court house. During that time there grew up a sen- timent that the old lot at the corner of Second and San Fernando Streets was not a suitable location and the supervisors were urged to purchase another lot. There was some oppo- sition to this suggestion and heated debates were held over it at the board meetings. Two of the supervisors, Messrs. Quinby and Yates, were opposed to buying another lot and when a resolution to change the location was adopt- ed, voted in the negative. Among the sites offered to the board was the one now occu- pied by the court house. It was owned by W. H. Hall, who offered to sell it to the county for $5000. The title having been found valid, the purchase was consummated. The original tract was 1371/2 feet front on First Street by 275 feet deep. Afterward more frontage was purchased.

Work on the court house was pushed as rapidly as possible and on January 1, 1868, the county officers took possession. Originally there was but one court room, the ceiling of which extended to the roof. In 1879 a floor was laid, cutting this apartment into two rooms as they now are. Another room, which had been used for a county office, was made over into a third court room, the new consti- tution, just adopted, having provided for three

Superior Courts for Santa Clara County. The cost of the building was about $200 000. When completed it was the finest court house in California. It is of the Roman-Corinthian or- der of architecture and overlooks St. James Park, whose luxuriance lends pleasure to the eve. Its foundation is of the utmost durabil- ity, the walls resting on a substructure of con- crete to a depth of six feet and of a like num- ber of feet in thickness. Ponderous brick arches support the lower floor, while all the walls are of the same material, the basement ones being four feet in thickness and the upper ones twenty-one inches. Above the basement the building has two stories and its dimensions are in frontage, 100 feet ; in depth, including the portico, 140 feet. The height to the cornices fifty-six feet, and it is 150 feet to the top of the dome, the least diameter of which is seventeen and the greatest fifty feet. Its portico, a magnificent specimen of column- ated facade, showing in its fine proportions, richness, strength and beauty, is seventy-six feet in length, the height of the columns be- ing thirty-eight and the diameter four feet. The windows, which are of the finest French plate glass, are each surmounted with pedi- ments, those on the lower story being arched. Each window frame is made of highly orna- mented cast iron, the whole weighing, with iron shutters, about 3600 pounds. The roof is covered with zinc. The tower, from which a magnificent view of the city and valley can be obtained, finds light from eleven elliptical windows, surmounted with an iron railing forty-two inches in height, and is reached by a staircase with 172 steps. There are three landings, so as to make the ascent compara- tively easy. This noble structure is divided into rooms, one fitted up for the board of sup- ervisors and the remainder apportioned to those of the county officers who do not have rooms in the Hall of Records building adjoin- ing on the north. The courts are finely ap- pointed, that of Department 1 being of noble proportions, sixty-five by forty-eight feet. The entire exterior of the structure is of imi- tation stone. The main entrance is gained by an ascent of thirteen granite steps, and here, high overhead, stands out in bold relief the motto, "Justicia Dedicata."

No sooner was this splendid building com- pleted than an overpowering sense of magni- ficence seized upon the board of supervisors, for they made strenuous efforts to make their court house the headquarters of the State Leg- islature, the removal of which from Sacra- mento to some more central position then be- ing seriously considered. What more natural than that the first capital of the state should try to regain its lost honors. On February 4,

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1868, the minutes of the board showed the following :

"Resolved, That in the event of the General Assembly of the State of California determin- ing to remove the State Capital to the County of Santa Clara, the Board of Supervisors of the said County of Santa Clara tender to the state, the free and entire use of the Court House of said County for state purposes, un- til such time as a Capitol building may be erected in said County, provided that the Capitol building shall be erected in five years."

The next day another motion, as follows, was carried: "Resolved, That the Honorable the Members of the Legislature and attaches thereof, one and all, are hereby invited to in- spect for themselves its eligibility as a seat of government for this state, prior to any final action touching that subject matter ; and the hospitalities of the city and county will be cordially extended to them." These orders were rescinded June 15, 1872.

A new county jail was built in the rear of the Court House in 1871. The plans of Levi Goodrich for a brick structure were adopted. The cost was about $60,000. The main prison, 120x42 feet and 21 feet high, is built on a solid brick foundation with granite water tables. The walls are 18 inches thick, of brick with four-inch iron bars running through the cen- ter, four and a half inches apart and riveted firmly together, extending around the entire building. Through the central part of the building are two rows of cells, which are built in the same substantial manner as the main walls, being covered overhead with solid arches of heavy iron work and masonry. A large corridor extends completely around these cells and a commodious passage be- tween them. Adjoining the rows of cells, but shut off from them by a heavy wall is what is called the "murderers' tanks." They are two in number with a corridor around them. The entire roof of the jail is of solid sheet iron, strongly anchored down to the substantial wall with massive couplings. On top of the plate of the roof is a layer of brick, finished over with asphaltum. The jailer's apartment adjoins the main building on the front and is forty-two feet square and three stories high, with ornamented fronts on the south and east. This section also contains kitchen, store room, office and the heating system. The second and third stories are divided into large and comfortable cells, and it is in this part of the jail that the women prisoners are confined. The whole prison is well-lighted by ample windows and skylights, well secured. The cells are furnished with cast iron sinks and water closets with sewer

connections. The inner face of all the walls are whitewashed.

The Hall of Records, adjoining the Court House at the north and connected with it by a wide covered corridor was erected in 1892 at a cost of $200,000. The overcrowded con- dition of the Court House rendered the addi- tion necessary. It is two stories in height, but is solidly built of granite on lines similar to that of the Court House. It is used for of- fices of the county clerk, county treasurer, county auditor, county surveyor, county re- corder, county superintendent of schools and Santa Clara County charities. The building was occupied in January, 1893.

The Hall of Justice is located on the south- east corner of Market and St. James streets, back of the Hall of Records. It was ready for occupancy when the earthquake of April 18, 1906 wrecked it. The material used in the construction was stone from Goodrich's quarry, near San Jose, and the earthquake proved that it was not of sufficient stability to withstand the shock. In the reconstruction stronger material was used and in 1908 the work was completed. The building is occu- pied by the county assessor, county tax col- lector, horticultural commissioner, county li- brary, probation office, justice of the peace, constables and house of detention.

The first organized effort to care for the in- digent sick was made in 1854, when a com- mittee from the common council met a com- mittee from the board of supervisors and agreed to act in concert in the matter. By the terms of this agreement the county was to bear two-thirds of the expense and the city one-third. All affairs concerning indigent sick were to be managed by a joint committee composed of each board. The council, how- ever, refused to confirm the action of its com- mittee, alleging that they were able to take care of their indigent sick. On this the su- pervisors appointed George Peck, R. G. Moody and William Daniels as a relief com- mittee or board of health. During this year the county received $869.45 as its share of the state relief fund.

The next year, 1855, a county physician was appointed and the city agreed to pay $50 per month towards maintenance and medical attendance. About the same time the old Levy property was rented for a hospital, the city paying a monthly rent of forty dollars. In .November of the same year the county ad- vertised for proposals for a house and lot for hospital purposes. In response to this call the Merritt brothers offered to sell the old Sutter house for $5,500. This house was siti- ated to the northeast of the city and to it was attached twenty-five acres of ground. The of-

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

fer was accepted and the county occupied the premises until February, 1856, when the own- ers failing to make a good deed to the prop- erty, the contract for the purchase was re- scinded. The county then advertised for pro- posals for taking care of the indigent sick. The first contract was let to Dr. G. B. Crane, who agreed to maintain the patients and fur- nish medical and surgical attendance for $4,600 per year, the number of patients not to be more than seven a day, or if in excess of that number, to be paid at that rate. For sev- eral years the patients were taken care of in this manner.

In 1860 the necessity for a hospital building became very apparent and a committee to se- lect a site was appointed. Many offers were made but the proposal of Hiram Cahill was accepted. His tract contained twelve acres of land, situated on the south side of South Street, just west of Los Gatos Creek. The price paid was $4,000. The buildings on the tract were re- paired and enlarged and a pest house was built near the creek on the south. These premises were occupied until 1871. Before this time, in 1868, the hospital became too small to accom- modate all the patients. The city had grown much larger and there was considerable ob- jection to the location of the institution so near the city limits. An effort was made to secure another location, but it was three years before a new site was chosen. The board finally purchased of John S. Connor 114 acres of land on one of the roads to Los Gatos, three and one-half miles from San Jose. The price paid was $12,400. In 1875 the contract for the building was awarded to W. O. Brey- fogle for $14,633.70. Messrs. Lenzen and Gaslı were the architects. Before this, the old buildings from the old grounds had been re- moved to the new site and the old premises cut up into lots and sold for $4.518.64. In 1884 eighty-one acres of the new tract were sold to different parties, leaving thirty-three acres to the present grounds. Afterward more land was bought so that now the tract con- tains thirty-eight and one-half acres. The money accruing from the 1884 sales amounted to $14,727.71, being $2,327.71 more than the cost of the entire tract. Since the removal of the hospital to its present location many build-

ing additions and improvements have been made. The average number of patients dur- ing 1919 was about 200. The main hospital has five wards and is replete with every sani- tary requirement. Outside are the tubercu- losis hospital, Old Ladies' Home, with thirty- seven inmates; Old Men's Home, isolation hospital, and pest house, and residences for the eighteen nurses and the superintendent, Dr. D. R. Wilson. Edward Halsey is the sec- retary.

Up to 1883 there was no almshouse in Santa Clara County. Invalids in destitute circumstances were cared for at the county hospital, while the indigent who were not in- valids were cared for by allowances by the board of supervisors. These allowances were of money, provisions, clothing, fuel, etc., as each case might demand. For many years the destitute children were cared for by the La- dies' Benevolent Society, this society receiv- ing from the board a monthly allowance of a certain amount per capita. Each supervisor exercised a supervision over the destitute of his district and all allowances were made on his recommendation.

The expense necessarily incurred by this system of affording relief began to be very burdensome and in 1883 steps were taken to establish a county farm. In March of that vear a committee was appointed to examine the matter and the report was in favor of es- tablishing an almshouse. The present site- on the Oakland road, half a mile south of Milpitas-was selected. A tract of 100 acres was purchased from James Boyd for $25,000. The tract contained the present main building, which had been erected as a residence some years before by John O'Toole at an expense of $21,000. Now nearly all aid to destituite persons is extended through this institution. Persons not residents of the county are not aided at all, but are returned to the counties where they belong. For several years indi- gent women were cared for here, but when an Old Ladies' Home was built at the county hos- pital they were removed to the new location. The superintendent is James Carson and the number of patients (1920) is 198. Those who are able to work are employed about the grounds, mainly in gardening.

CHAPTER XV.

The Resources and Attractions of San Jose, the Garden Cty of California- Soil, Climate, Productions and Opportunity-What a Man From the East Learned From an Old Resident.

"San Jose? In California? Never heard of the place. Must be some old Spanish village, eh? Pueblo-that's it, pueblo. I've read Span- ish history and when I was a youngster I had a lot of Spanish lingo at my tongue's end. I never heard of but one San Jose on the Western Continent and that is San Jose de Costa Rica. Perhaps you were not referring to California and your San Jose is the Costa Rican city. No? Then where is your San Jose and what do they raise there, coffee or pump- kins?"

The speaker was a man from the East, who had come to California in search of a home and also a field for the profitable investment of the money he had saved after years of toil in the cold, cheerless communities of New England. The scene was the reading room of one of San Francisco's palatial hotels and the person addressed was an old resident of San Jose, who had been introduced to the East- erner by a mutual friend.

"San Jose is of right the fourth city in the state and is located in the heart of the rich- est valley in the world: distance from San Francisco, forty-eight miles. It is-"

"Hold on, hold on," was the quick inter- ruption. "Let me get my breath-you quite took it away by your surprising announcement. I am a tenderfoot, it is true, but I thought I had California sized up pretty well before I bought my ticket in Boston. I knew there were a large number of towns and villages where they dig for gold, but I had formed the idea that the only two cities worth men- tioning were San Francisco and Los Angeles. As San Francisco is hardly the place for a home, I had concluded to go to Los Angeles.' "Have you bought your ticket?" "No," was the reply. "Then before you do so let me suggest that you take a trip to San Jose. You are looking for a place suitable for a resi- dence. San Jose offers the best inducements of any community in the state of California. You have money to invest-invest it in the Santa Clara Valley."

"But I am very particular. I have a family, children not yet grown up. There are many things to be considered and I am afraid, my good friend that a country town or city- for I have heard that out here in the West a town becomes a city when it can show a popu-

lation of 800 or 1,000-will hardly afford the facilities which are essential to the well-being of my family."

"Let me tell you something about San Jose and its environs. Perhaps I may be able to furnish facts that will suit all your require- ments."

"I shall be pleased to hear you." The man from the East lighted a cigar, then sinking in his chair waited for the promised exposition. "You spoke of Spanish villages," began the old resident," and that reminds me that San Jose was once a Spanish pueblo, where all the houses were of adobe, where the seat of education and religious enlightenment was in the Mission and where wild cattle roamed the valley and a dolce far niente people lived lives of ease and dreamed not of the time when fair and stately homes should dot the lands given over to the chapparal and the wild mus- tard, and the busy hum of industry indicative of an advanced civilization should be heard in places where happy feet kept time to the se- ductive strains of the Spanish guitar, or where the matador and picador imperiled their lives for love or gold. San Jose was settled in 1787 as the result of an exploration made at the instance of the Spanish authorities in 1769. Until 1830 no Americans had ever penetrat- ed California. In that year they began to ar- rive so that when the discovery of gold was made San Jose was practically dominated by the American population. In February, 1848, the United States, by treaty, acquired title to California and the first Legislature held its first session in San Jose, which for a short time was the capital of the state. Had gen- eral and not sectional interests been consult- ed, it would be the capital today; but by a series of bargains, governed solely by selfish considerations, the capital was removed first to one point and then another until it reached Sacramento to stay. In 1849-the year the Argonauts came from all parts of the world- San Jose, as now, was the paradise of the homeseeker, its location, climate and other at- tractions combining to make it the most fa- vored city in the state. Seekers for the gold, which was to be found in the mountainous counties to the north and east left their fami- lies in San Jose, well knowing that while they delved for the yellow metal their loved ones

SANTA CLARA VALLEY

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were surrounded by all the conditions calcu- lated to make life worth living. And if life were worth living in San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley in 1849, what must be said of the advantages which it possesses today ? Then the valley, outside of the pueblo, was practic- ally an unbroken plain where the wild cattle roamed at will. Today is presented a trans- formation that would hardly be looked for out- side of an Arabian romance. The late Judge Belden, in a graphic and beautifully worded picture of the valley in the vicinity of San Jose, thus set forth some of the attractions :

"'To the visitor approaching San Jose, through the upper end of the Santa Clara Val- ley, each mile traversed ushers in some de- lightful surprise, introduces a new climate. If his advent be from the north, the hills of ver- dure which encircle the bay recede on either hand and assume a softer contour and a rich- er garb. The narrow roadway that skirts the salt marsh has widened to a broad and fer- tile valley that stretches as far as the eye can reach in luxuriant fields of grass and grain and miles upon miles of thrifty orchards. Border- ing this verdant plain, in hues and splendors all their own, come the hills and into the re- cesses of these hills creep the little valleys and as they steal away in their festal robes they whisper of beauties beyond and as yet unseen. In full keeping with the transformed landscape is the change of climate. The harsh, chill winds that pour in through the Golden Gate, and sweep over the peninsula, have abat- ed their rough work as they spread over the valley, and, softened as they mingle with the currents of the south, met as a zephyr in the widening plain.

" 'If the approach to San Jose be from the south, the traveler, wearied with the desert and its hot, dry air, is conscious of a sud- den change. The sterile desert has become a fruitful plain and the air that comes as balm to the parched lungs is cool and soft and moist with the tempered breath of the sea. If it be spring or early summer, miles upon mile stretches the verdant plain; over it troops sunshine and shadow : across it ripples the waves. Summer but changes the hue and heaps the plains with abundant harvest of grain, vegetables and fruit, while the first rain brings again the verdure and the beauty of spring. "An ocean of beauty," exclaims the charmed beholder.'"

"From that very pretty description I infer that your climate is not to be sneezed at."

"We are proud of our climate," replied the old resident, "and with reason. There are all sorts of climate in California but it is general- ly conceded by those who have traveled the state over and are not afraid to express an

honest opinion, that the climate of San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley is unsurpassed in mildness and salubrity. It is all owing to topographical situation. With moderately high mountains rising on the east and west and closing in on the south, the valley is pro- tected from the fog and winds that in cer- tain seasons envelop more exposed sections in less favored locations. Protected from ex- tremes of heat and cold by the sheltering arms of the mountains, the hottest days of summer are never oppressive on account of the cool breezes that sweep in from the bay. Climat- ically considered, San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley is open to no objection."

"Your climate I admit is all right, but what about resources ?"

"The valley is one of varied resources and San Jose, as the county seat, enjoys the major part of the benefit derived from the orchards, grain fields and berry and vegetable sections. The shipping facilities are unexcelled. In the first place San Jose is the terminal point and therefore growers are not compelled to send their products to a great distance at local rates in order to reap the benefits that always accrue by reason of the rates offered at ter- minal points.'

The man from the East was becoming vastly interested. His cigar had gone out and his eyes were fixed intently on the face of the old resident. "What kinds of fruit do you raise?" as asked, and on the moment out came his notebook.

"Prunes, apricots, cherries, pears, apples, peaches, quinces, olives, nectarines, plums, limes, lemons and oranges." "Oranges?" "Yes, oranges in the section we call the warm belt. but our prunes, apricots and peaches give such better returns that we do not count on citrus fruits, leaving that line to the southern coun- ties. Prunes take the lead and San Jose han- dles about all of them. There are twenty-three packing houses and twenty-four canneries in San Jose alone : outside there are fifteen pack- ing houses and about the same number of canneries. The number in city and country will increase before the year is out.

"Gee Whiz!" ejaculated the man from the East, "San Jose must handle hundreds of tons of fruit each year."

"Hundreds of tons? Thousands of tons would hit the mark. In the shipment of dried fruit San Jose's contribution is about half of that of the whole state."

"How about marketing?" was the next in- quiry as the business sense of the man from the East came to the fore.

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History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 27

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846- Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1928

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928