History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 55

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1934

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tralia, New Zealand, Japan, Africa, China and other foreign countries have ordered liberally.

With a season beginning early in May and running until nearly the close of the year, the Sunnyvale Canneries give employment to from 200 to 250 persons. The season of 1922 is looked forward to as the banner season, and to that end extensive planning has been done.

The Three Leaf Cot Manufacturing Com- pany is one of the interesting manufacturing companies of the Pacific Coast, giving delight- ful employment to a large number of people, and turning out a finished product that is eag- erly sought far and wide-that of a bed, a chair, a table, and a settee, all in one. com- bined with a collapsible folding tent. thus mak- ing camp life a pleasure, picnicing a dream, and an overland trip an ideal outing. A girl can set up the entire outfit unaided.

Ninety-five per cent of the output of the Hydro-Carbon Companies is exported, paint oil and mineral turpentine being the chief products. Added to this is the famous rubber oil waterproofing for auto tops-a commodity that is winning favor wherever introduced.

The Rumely Products Company operates twenty-six branches in the United States and many in foreign countries. The one in Sunny- vale furnishes a distributing point for Cali- fornia, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico, and is caring for the business in a highly credita- ble manner. Mr. W. Reineke, the superin- tendent, has been well schooled in Rumely Products, which fact can be duly attested by the increased business. The claim of the com- pany is that "20,000 farmers save all their grain by using Rumely Ideal Separators."

There is one of a chain of many of the Cali- fornia Packing Corporation's plants located in Sunnyvale, and so strongly is it officered and financed that it is always regarded as a real contender in the race for supremacy. The products of this plant wherever introduced, have, by popular vote, been placed among the foremost in their line.

A man once said: "I know there's money, and plenty of it, in poultry, for I have put lots of it in, and as I never got it out, I know it's still there." Mr. E. A. Lodge, manager and owner of the Pebble Side Poultry Farm, knows, too, that there is plenty of money in

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poultry, for he is getting it out every day, and seeing is believing. Perhaps there is no greater section in California for successful poultry raising than in and around Sunnyvale.

J. Fred Holthouse, a life-time resident of Sunnyvale, and whose study has ever been along the line of improved pumping methods, is the builder of the most complete pumping plant systems that are in use today.

To meet the demands of a rapidly growing community, men with keen vision have launched into the dry goods business, clothing business, grocery business, meat business, hotel and rooming house business, restaurant business, hardware business, drug business, as well as furniture, electrical supplies, feed and fuel, bicycle, plumbing, blacksmithing-in short, Sunnyvale is a veritable bee hive of industry.

In the matter of churches Sunnyvale is rep- resented by the Baptists, Congregationalists, Catholics, Episcopalians and Methodists. A free municipal library was established by the good women of the W. C. T. U. soon after Sunnyvale sprang into existence, and was taken over by the own after an organization was perfected. A very large selection of choice books are at the disposal of the residents, in- cluding the country circulating library. Nearly every known order is represented here, and the individual who bears the proud distinction of being a "jiner," can have some place to go every night in the week, where he finds diver- tisement from his daily grind at the old tread mill. The movies, too, contribute their full quota in the way of entertainment, the best and up-to-the-minute reels alone being shown. The show house is a good one, well ventilated, ably managed, and a real oasis in the desert to many. Sunnyvale has one newspaper, the Standard, published by A. T. Fetter. The town's latest improvement is a new packing house built by the California Prune and Apri- cot Growers, Inc. It is one the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

In 1920 the South Shore Port Company, with eighty directors in Santa Clara County, made ready to finance and engineer the pro- ject of obtaining a direct waterway for the transportation of the products raised in the valley. Several sites were examined and sel- ection was finally made of Jagel's Landing, a few miles north of Sunnyvale. Work was be- gun in July, 1920, and will be completed this year (1922). An immense dredger was pro- cured and a canal two miles long with a basin 300×600 feet at the landing was started and is now nearly completed. Boats of 500 tons will operate in the port and will act as feeders of large boats which sail from San Francisco. This waterway will connect three of the rich-

est valley in the State-the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Santa Clara. The officers of the company are : Paul H. Fretz, president ; R. B. Roll, George Jagel, Jr. ; secretary, C. L. Stow- ell : treasurer, W. McLaughlin.

Campbell

Campbell is located in the heart of the or- chard district four miles southwest of San Jose and reached by the Southern Pacific and the Peninsular railways. It has the distinc- tion of fostering the largest drying plant in the world, where twenty-five thousand trays of fruit can be placed on the ground at one time. It is proud of its three canneries and its dried fruit packing houses, which send to the markets of the world the finished products in fruits of the Santa Clara Valley.

The town was established in 1887 by Ben- jamin Campbell, who cut up his 167 acres in lots and small farms and sold them. This area was afterward extended and the ranches heretofore given over to grain were planted in fruit, prunes and apricots, mainly. The town grew rapidly and now has a population of about 1200. It has two banks, a lumber mill and yard, an improvement society, three churches (Methodist, Congregational and Catholic), County Woman's Club, Home and School Club, a town library and a branch of the county library, fire department, and a main street of up-to-date business houses. Two miles from town, at Vasona, is a pit crushing plant. Last but not least Campbell has four grammar schools and a union high school. The latter accommodates the children of Hamilton, Cambria, San Tomas and Campbell school districts. There is one newspaper, The Press, published by Harry Smith.

The section is most highly developed. The drying plant is a cooperative institution, the farmers bringing in their crops to be dried. The elevation of the town is 200 feet. The land rises about 100 feet in each three miles from the trough of the valley to the base of the hills. This, together with several creeks which flow northward in deep cuts, affords ample drainage to the whole section. The slope also permits of a slight air drainage and makes the section less frosty than the land further east. That this is an understood fact is evidenced by the planting of several small lemon orchards near the town.

Cupertino

Directly west of San Jose and Meridian is Cupertino, on the Saratoga and Mountain View road. Good roads extend in all direc- tions. It is on the line of the electric road from Los Altos to Los Gatos and also has di- rect electric railway connection with San Jose,

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ten miles distant. In the town are located a general merchandise store, a real estate of- fice, a union church, Catholic church and an Odd Fellows hall. To the east, south and west the fruit ranches are crowded together. The soil is fertile and the principal crops are prunes and apricots. The town has a rural free delivery, a drier and fruit warehouse, and nearby, at West Side, a packing com- pany and drier. There is a library, an im- provement club, Odd Fellows, Rebekahs, Woodmen of the World and King's Daugh- ters lodges, and an up-to-date union grammar school, the districts represented being Lin- coln, San Antonio, Collins and Doyle. To build the school house a bond issue of $7,500 was necessary. The population is about 500 and there are no fixed boundaries.

Alviso

Alviso is one of the oldest towns in Santa Clara County. In 1849 it was predicted that it was destined to become a great city. Set- ting, as it does, at the head of San Francisco Bay, it was thought that it would become the shipping point for all the lower county. For a time it was a very active place. Warehouses were built and buildings erected for hotels, dwellings and stores. The railroad, however, diverted travel in 1865, and the town became nearly deserted. The arrival of the South Pacific Coast Railroad (now part of the South- ern Pacific system) in 1876, revived business somewhat, but the residents no longer look forward to putting on metropolitan airs.

The town was incorporated in 1852 with John Snyder as its first treasurer and A. T. Gallagher as its first marshal. Thomas West and Robert Hutchinson were members of the first board of trustees. The principal indus- tries of Alviso at the present time are the Bayside Cannery and two evaporator compa- nies. The Bayside employs from 400 to 500 persons every season. The Ortley Bros. also do a paying shell business. There is but one church, the First Methodist, and one grammar school. There is both water and mail trans- portation, boats drawing ten feet of water be- ing enabled to land at the wharves.

Alviso is headquarters for the South Bay Yacht Club. In 1922 there were twenty-four yachts and other boats in the harbor. The club was organized in April, 1896, with J. O. McKee as commodore, Dr. H. A. Spencer, vice commodore; J. E. Auzerais, secretary, and S. E. Smith, treasurer. C. Keaton is the present commodore.

Milpitas

This town, seven miles north of San Jose, stretches from San Francisco Bay to the east-

ern foothills and is bounded on the north by Alameda County and on the south by the Berryessa and Alviso sections. It came into existence in 1856 when Frederick Creighton erected the first building and opened a store. A postoffice was also established at the time with Creighton as postmaster and J. R. Weller . as assistant. In 1857 the first hotel was opened by James Kinney, who was succeeded by A. French. The building was destroyed by fire in 1860, but it was rebuilt by French and conducted by him until his death, over twenty years ago. Of late years the town has made a rapid growth. It now has a popula- tion of about 800. It boasts of the California Packing Company, two warehouses, one for hay and grain and the other for grain, solely, a sugar beet company, a spinach ranch, a Standard Oil plant, some of the largest dairies in the state, a squab farm and large potato and grain ranches. There is but one church (Catholic), the Protestants going to San Jose for religious services ; and a grammar school, a bank and a free library. There is one paper, the Post, published in San Jose.

Agnew

This town is situated about three miles north of Santa Clara, on the Oakland branch of the Southern Pacific Railway. There are several stores, no church and the California Hospital for the Insane, a state institution. The hospital was established in 1885 and the first superintendent was Dr. W. W. MacFar- lane. The present superintendent, who as- sumed office in 1902, is Dr. Leonard Stocking. There are 1650 acres in the tract. On April 18, 1906, all the buildings were destroyed by the earthquake and over 100 patients were killed. Legislative appropriations from year to year permitted the erection of thirty-two buildings. A few are of brick, the others con- crete. The cost of all the buildings approxi- mates $1,300,000. These are of modern archi- tecture, convenience and sanitary require- ments and the grounds are beautifully laid out in wide drives, lawns, trees, shrubbery and flowers. The names of the present board of trustees are: T. S. Montgomery. Dr. W. S. Van Dalsen, W. L. Biebrach, San Jose ; Dun- can McPherson, Santa Cruz, and Horace Wil- son, San Francisco.

A short distance from town, on the east, is the plant of the Western Industries Company. It operates a distillery. It is under Govern- ment supervision and at present is engaged in the manufacture of alcohol from the resi- duum of beet sugar.

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Saratoga

Saratoga, in the western foothills, is about eleven miles from San Jose on the Peninsular Electric system. It is 450 feet elevation, so that one may look over the valley where over eight million fruit trees are planted and revel in nature's most beautiful landscape. Lumber Street, the main thoroughfare, keeps alive a faint memory of the old days when ranchers from all the county round came to town to buy lumber for roofing and fencing their newly established homes. Aside from the perennial beauty of the hills, Saratoga's next claim to distinction lies in her country homes and the friendly folk who have made them. A gra- cious and sincere hospitality seems to per- vade the neighborhood, from the little inn with its rose-embowered gateway to the stately Villa Montalvo, the home of Senator Phelan, or the scores of cozy country homes, whose latch-strings hang waiting the pull of the ever-welcome guest.

Senator James D. Phelan, formerly mayor of San Francisco, a world-traveled man of vast means, has selected the foothills a mile from Saratoga for his splendid out-of-town home, being in business in San Francisco. He spent a large sum for the erection of a pala- tial residence. It is an Italian villa, with tiled roof, concrete foundations, cellars and columns. It is approached by three flights of steps rising on terraces. The house is set in a natural amphitheater, with a canyon on each side, and these run into sylvan glades and sheltered creeks always flowing with crys- tal water. Redwood groves abound. On the slopes are birch, wild cherry, madrone, oak, and other wild and beautiful shrubs and trees.

The view of the Santa Clara Valley from this home is unsurpassed, the elevation above sea-level being eight hundred feet. The Bay of San Francisco, Mount Diablo, Mount Ham- ilton and Mount Madonna are in full view, and the orchards, now in bloom and again in fruit, giving greenness in summer to the carpeted valley, lie at one's feet, stretching far away in the distance, twelve miles to San Jose. Villa Montalvo, the Phelan home, was named in honor of Montalvo, the fourteenth century Spaniard who wrote "Sergas de Esplandian," in which the name California was first men- tioned.

The house is entered by a loggia from which a large hall opens, and through the hall one can see the patio around which is an ar- cade. From here steps rise ten feet to an- other elevation, where a pergola incloses an oval swimming pool sixty feet long, set in a margin of lawn and flowers. The pergola terminates in a casino commanding the whole

scheme, whose steps descend to the lawn, close to the pond, and on the rear garden-side doors open to a stage fifteen by thirty feet, whose auditorium, after manner of Greek the- aters, is the forested hillside. Mr. Phelan se- lected the site after inspecting hundreds of others. He feels that the climatic, scenic, and general advantages of the location are the very best in the United States. Proximity to San Francisco, transportation facilities, and the character of the community were also factors.

The reason for Saratoga's untiring hospi- tality may be found in the fact that, like the spider in the old nursery rhyme, "We've so many pretty things to show you while you are here." First and foremost, there is the wonderful Twenty-Seven Mile Drive, from which, at the summit, the new road to the Big Basin branches off. Either of these moun- tain drives provide a day of pure delight. So clear is the air at the mountain top that the snow-crowned peak of Half-Dome in Yo- semite Park could be clearly seen. But the time of all times for a visit to Saratoga is in late March or early April, at the blossoming of her vast prune orchards. Then away and away, as far as the eye can see, lies spread before the enraptured gaze, a vision of spring loveliness-acres upon acres of snowy or- chards, with here and there a little patch of pink to add fresh beauty to the scene and suggest the promise of luscious peaches to come. Every year, generally in March, a Blossom Festival is held, to which come vis- itors from all parts of Central California. The idea of holding these annual treats originated with the late Rev. Edwin Sidney Williams, and thousands of people are always present when the happy day comes.

Saratoga is a center as well as a gateway, so that the wayfarer cannot exhaust his pleas- ures in a day or a week. There are the early morning walks to Congress Springs, with its fine hotel and medicinal springs: the "hike" to the historic "John Brown Place"; the horse- back trails among the hills, the fishing in the mountain streams and the floral treasures that await the eager botanist.

Nor is the community spirit without its fit abiding place. At the Saratoga Foothill Club the women of the town hold their bi-weekly meeting and here the intellectual hunger of the town is fed by lectures, concerts and other forms of entertainment befitting a normal well-balanced life. The churches are repre- sented by Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational and Christian denominations. There is a commercial club, an improvement club, and lodges of Foresters of America, Fra- ternal Aid Union, Modern Woodmen and Odd

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Fellows with Rebekah auxiliary. A live weekly, the Star, is published by L. C. Dick.

In 1921 the County of Santa Clara bought nineteen acres of land known as "The Quarry." The consideration was $85,000.

Los Altos

Los Altos is a suburban town in the wooded foothills of the Santa Cruz Range, a few miles from Palo Alto and Mountain View. It was settled ten years ago when the Peninsular Railway was extended toward Palo Alto. It is the nucleus of a large home center for San Francisco business men, many of whom al- ready are daily commuters. By hourly elec- tric service Los Altos is less than fifteen min- utes from Stanford University. It has sev- eral good stores, a modern school house, a bank, telephone exchange, electric lighted streets, water company, garage, restaurant, transfer company, and other conveniences. Scenically the situation is delightful, as it is on rolling hills, combining woodland and or- chards, with a living mountain stream run- ning through the town. There are extensive views of the Santa Clara Valley and San Fran- cisco Bay. The climate is typical of a favored mountain region and most of the homes are built to take advantage of an outdoor life. The improvement club is doing much to put Los Altos in big letters on the map. A prom- inent educational feature is the Los Altos School and Junior College, an open air school for boys and young men. It is highly com- mended for its efficiency. The town is on the line of the Southern Pacific Railway, with di- rect service to San Francisco, and may be reached from San Jose by both electric and steam roads. It is an ideal residence place. Construction on the great $1,000,000 new Cath- olic Seminary near Los Gatos was started in July, 1920. It will soon be completed. The grounds will cover 700 acres.

Evergreen

Evergreen, Yerba Buena Rancho, was first owned by Antonio Chaboya, who held a Mex- ican grant title. When the Americans ac- quired California, Chaboya had to secure a United States title. This was granted to him in 1858. The grant, seven miles east of San Jose, was called Evergreen on account of the beautiful oaks that covered the entire acre- age. J. B. Hart, who was one of the lawyers engaged to obtain the grant and was paid in land, cut up his portion into farms, and C. C. Smith was one of the first purchasers and es- tablished the first business, a blacksmith shop. In 1866 the Evergreen school district was es- tablished. The first trustees were John Hol- loway, Tom Farnsworth and Henry McClay.

1. P. Henning was the first teacher. In 1892 a new and modern building was erected. The original building was moved and became the First Methodist Church. On May 15, 1868, C. C. and F. J. Smith opened the first store the village had. In 1870 the Legislature re- solved that Evergreen should have a postof- fice and the same year the resolution was car- ried into effect, F. J. Smith becoming the first postmaster. For fourteen years the salary was $12 per year. The office was discontin- ued January 1, 1914, and since then the resi- dents have been served by rural carriers. In 1886 the Evergreen Hall was built and an en- tertainment for the W. R. C. Home Fund yielded $300. The home was built a few years later. It is a state institution, though under the management of the Woman's Relief Corps. It houses and cares for the widows and or- phans of Civil War soldiers and army nurses. There are five acres of ground ; inmates, 1920, twenty-three : matron, Mrs. Alice Arthur. On October 10, 1920, the home was destroyed by fire. In 1921 the Corps purchased from Dr. A. E. Osborne the buildings and land of the Feeble-Minded Home, near Winchester, on the Saratoga Road. The Home is now located there and has twenty-five inmates. Ever- green is connected with San Jose by five paved roads. Prunes, apricots and peaches are the principal fruit crops. It is a very rich section for early vegetables.

Mountain View

Mountain View is situated nearly in the center of the Santa Clara Valley, eleven miles northwest of San Jose and six miles south of Palo Alto. It is noted for its mild and even climate and is in the very heart of the fruit district, being particularly known for its pro- duction of apricots and prunes, which here reached a degree of perfection unexcelled any- where in the country. Such is the excellence of these varietes of fruits that they are dried and sent to Europe as well as the East. There are also in the vicinity of Mountain View splendid vegetable gardens where nearly all kinds of products known to temperate and semi-tropical climates are raised in great abundance and of the best quality. Just out- side the corporation limits are magnificent greenhouses in which are grown millions of the choicest flowers known to the florists' art and every day in the year immense quantities of blooms, of great variety, are shipped to the metropolis, and the supply never equals the demand. The population of the town is about 2,000. There are seven church organzations, including Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist Church South, Roman Catholic, First Meth- odist church, Seventh Day Adventist and

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Christian Scientist. The public schools are of the highest order and graduates of the high school are admitted to all the colleges and unversities of the state without examination. The grammar and high school campus com- prises five acres. There are several private and church schools and the fraternal orders are well represented. The town also boasts of two banks, a movie house and a weekly newspaper, published by P. Milton Smith. It is a progressive, up-to-date paper and ably edited and managed. There are two canner- ies and a pickle factory, and the plant of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh Day Ad- ventist denomination. It is the largest of its kind this side of Chicago. In it are published several religious papers and magazines and a large number of denominational books which are printed in about seventy-five different lan- guages and dialects, and are distributed and sold all over the world. All the work con- nected with these publications is done at the plant in Mountain View, from setting up the type, either by hand or linotype to the final binding, and including all photo-engraving and electrotyping. The annual amount of business exceeds $1,000,000. The buildings are located in a beautful park of five acres just outside the town limits. The town trus- tees are J. S. Mackbee, James Cochran, Claude Redwine, L. K. Watson, E. D. Minton.

The old town of Mountain View consisted of a stage station on the San Francisco road, built by James Campbell in 1852. The town was surveyed into lots and blocks by Frank Sleeper and Mariano Castro, but the town never evinced any dispositon to stray away from the one principal street. In 1869 S. P. Taylor erected a hotel. The new town of Moun- tain View, in which the business now centers, was the outgrowth of the railroad. It was laid out by S. O. Houghton, of San Jose, in 1865. The first building constructed was used for a saloon. Soon the town spread, business blocks, fine paved streets, school houses and churches came until the town became one of the busiest and most prosperous settlements in the county.

A new ice and precooling plant will be built in 1922. It will be large enough to manufac- ture ten tons of ice a day. There will also be storageroom for 500 tons of ice, 150 tons of fruit, and 1,000 barrels of frozen berries.

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 55

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1934

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1934