USA > California > Santa Clara County > San Jose > San Jose city directory including Santa Clara County 1899-1900 > Part 2
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PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. THE CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE
Is located at Agnews, seven miles north of San Jose. It has a magnifi- cent building of stone and brick, three stories high, with the adminis- tration building four stories. It has a frontage of 750 feet by 400 in depth and cost $800,000. It has 275 acres of grounds surrounding it, which are devoted to orchards, gardens, pastures and hay fields. The
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institution is controlled by a board of trustees, appointed by the Gov- ernor.
THE COUNTY COURT HOUSE AND HALL OF RECORDS
Are fine buildings, costing in the aggregate about $700,000.
There may also be mentioned the County Hospital and Alms House, both supported at public expense, but in a measure self-sup- porting by reason of the cultivated lands surrounding them.
The aggregate value of public buildings and grounds owned by Santa Clara County is $1,500,000.
EDUCATIONAL.
Santa Clara County may, with propriety, feel proud of its educa- tional advantages. From kindergarten to university the way of the learner is made pleasant, and all things necessary to his rapid and easy advancement are provided. In the county are eighty.three school districts, employing 273 teachers. The value of public school property is $608,219, and the amount expended for support of public schools is more than $300,000 annually. Teachers receive liberal compensation and the result is that the schools have the service of the best educators. The average monthly wages paid to teachers in all grades is $65 per month.
The average annual expenditure in the United States for each scholar attending public school is $17.62. In the North Central States it is $19.96; in the North Atlantic States, $23 65: in the South Atlantic States, $8 25: in the South Central States. $7.59; in Santa Clara County, $26.07; children in the county between five and seven years of age, 14,340; enrolled in the public schools, 10, 223.
THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
This institution is located at San Jose, occupying a building costing about $200,000. It is conceded to be one of the best schools for the training of teachers that exists anywhere. It has a library of many thousand volumes, a training room well supplied with wood and iron working machinery; a clay modeling room; chemical and physical laboratories, and in all departments is fully equipped with most approved apparatus and appliances. Total attendance is about 900 students.
THE LICK OBSERVATORY.
The fame of the great Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton is now world-wide, and thousands of people visit it annually, each one of whom assists in heralding to the world the delights of the trip and the intense interest which attaches to the Observatory and its unique at- tractions. The trip from beginning to end is calculated to create im pressions that will be stamped indelibly upon the mind.
The Observatory is twenty-eight miles from San Jose by stage road and thirteen miles in an air line. It is one of the grandest roads in the State-wide and of easy grade. It leads eastward from San Jose
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on the Alum Rock road five miles to the foothills, along a wide avenue, bordered a distance of several miles on either side with rows of euca- lyptus and cypress trees; thence winding up and over foothills graceful with undulating vineyards and rows of fruit trees that converge and diverge, crowning knolls and reaching far up into the mountains.
The road bends into ravines and rounds jutting points, ever rising, the view growing constantly grander and more extended. The valley begins to appear like a map, each orchard with its rows of trees dis- tinctly outlined; white houses everywhere dotting the plain. Then around hillsides where black oaks and mountain laurel bend over the road, and wild flowers bloom in profusion amid luxurious grasses that everywhere cover the hills, the ravines and the roadside. Hall's Valley, rich with grainfields, and rolling hills covered with green oaks greets the view, making a picture of great beauty. Over another range and Smith's Creek is reached, where the hungry traveler finds a
STATE NORMAL. SCHOOL.
good hotel and a good meal awaiting him. The excellence of the water is noted by all, and the ranch butter and thick cream are re- membered ever after.
The mountain climb really commences here, the road zig-zagging up the hill with hundreds of curves in order to insure a lighter grade. As one rounds the turn a glimpse of the observatory is caught, appar- ently just above, yet it can only be reached by a long, round-about climb. Hidden from view one moment, it seems to stand out more boldly as the stage rounds the next jutting point. The view rapidly broadens until the summit is reached. Here the scene is indescribably grand -- a poem without words. The great Bay of San Francisco stretches away to the north, while the Santa Clara Valley is spread ont like a map from Palo Alto on the north to Sargents on the south. Across the valley the Santa Cruz Range with its blue mountains nprears against the ocean, its redwood forests fringing against the
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western sky. Through a gap in the Coast Range to the east the Sierra Nevadas may be seen, snow capped and dim in the distance, overhung with the fleecy clouds that characterize that region in summer. Lower down may be''seen upon clear days a wide stretch of the great San Joaquin Valley. Nearer the pine-clad hills are deep, steep canyons, where the buzzards soar on tireless wing above abysses awful in their grandeur. The observatory was given to the world by James Lick, who left an estate of $3,000,000, nearly all of which was devoted to public use, $700,000 being given to provide for the construc- tion of the largest .telescope in the world and its installation on Mount Hamilton. . The whole. cost of the establishment was $610,000. The remaining $90,000 is invested, as an 'endowment fund. The interest npon this is insufficient for the support of the observatory, and the deficiency is made up by annual appropriations from the income of the California State University. Congress originally granted as a site for the observatory 1,350 acres. Other tracts have since been purchased by the State and by private parties, making the total area of the reservation 2.581 acres. The road to the summit of Mount Hamilton was built by the county at a cost of $78,000.
The Observatory consists of a main building containing computing rooms, library and the domes of the 36-inch equatorial, and the 12- inch equatorial, and detached buildings for the meridian circle, the transit, the horizontal photo-heliograph, the portable equatorial and the Crocker photographic telescope. On the grounds are dwelling houses for the astronomers, students and employes, and shops for the workmen. The Observatory is fully provided with instruments, the most important of which are the 36-inch equatorial, the Crossley re- flector. the 12 inch equatorial, the 612-inch meridian circle, the Bruce spectroscope, a 4-inch transit, a 4-inch comet-seeker, a 5-inch hori- zontal photo heliograph and the Crocker photographic telescope. There are, besides, many minor pieces of astronomical, physical, meteorological and photographic apparatus, including spectroscopes, seismometers, photometers, micrometers, clocks, chronographs, etc.
Students who are graduates of the University of California or any college of like standing are received at the Lick Observatory to pursue a higher course of instruction in astronomy. Quarters are assigned to them at Mount Hamilton and in return they are required to execute such computations as may be assigned to them. They must furnish their own text books, food, etc., but no fees or charges of any sort for instruction are required from students in the University.
The observatory buildings are open during office hours every day in the year. The various instruments can be seen at any time during office hours when not in use and when the work of the Observatory will allow: they are also at the disposition of visitors from 7 to 10 o'clock on Saturday evenings. This gives freer access than is allowed to any other observatory in the world. The uniform courtesy and attention extended to visitors by the Professors here is the subject of wide comment. Those visitors who come in the daytime are personally conducted through the various buildings, and the uses of the instru- ments are explained to them. On Saturday evenings each visitor is shown the most interesting celestial objects through the 36-inch and
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12-inch equatorials. Some of the Professors are usually present, and 110 pains are spared by them to make these visits pleasant and profita- ble. Lectures are given by the astronomers at different times and. places, and all specially interesting observations and discoveries are described in the magazines and the daily press. In these and other ways the observatory is made directly useful to the public, and it is an important factor in the intellectual advancement of the nation.
It is impossible to describe in detail the scientific work which has been and is being carried on. Much of it is of a tech- nical nature and uninteresting to the gen- eral public. It may be said in a general way that ten new comets, a great number of double stars, and Jupiter's fifth satellite were discovered here. The photographs of solar eclipses have put a new face on the constitution of the solar corona, and the photographs of sunspots awaken the most intense interest. The photographs of the moon's surface, taken at short inter- THE LICK OBSERVATORY. vals during its entire age, are the most interesting and satisfactory that have ever been taken. By enlarging the photographs the mountains and their shadows, with the tremendous craters that scar the surface, can be seen with great detail, and the heights of the mount- ains can be determined with nicety. With the great Lick Telescope any object upon the moon 200 feet high can be seen.
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36-INCH EQUATORIAL, LICK OBSERVATORY.
The altitude of the vari- ous points along the road be- tween San Jose and the Ob- servatory is as follows :
Broad gauge depot at San Jose, 88.7 feet ; Junction House, 399 feet; Grand View House, 1,500 feet; summit between Hall's Valley and Grand View, 1,838 -feet ; Hall's Valley, 1,543.5 feet ; Smith's Creek Hotel, 2, 146.2 feet; marble floor of the Lick Observatory, 4.209.46 feet ; top of the cover of the Kepler reservoir, 4,246.20 feet.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY.
The most richly endowed institution of learning in the world is Leland Stanford Jr. University, founded by the late Senator Leland
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Stanford, and located at Palo Alto, seventeen miles north of San Jose. For the purposes of liberal endowment, Senator and Mrs. Stanford executed a grant to trustees for the University, conveying the estates known as the Palo Alto Farm in Santa Clara County, the Gridley Farm in Butte County and the Vina Farm in Tehama County.
The Palo Alto property was Senator Stanford's country home and is one of the finest private estates in America. It lies along the South- ern Pacific Railroad between Palo Alto and Mayfield and contains 7,200 acres. The parks, gardens, orchards and vineyards which sur- round the mansion occupy 300 acres. The University buildings, lawns and grounds occupy a similar area. The famous Stanford stock farm occupies the remaining 6,600 acres. Senator Stanford was a lover of horses and in his life-time devoted much attention and vast sums of money to their breeding, training and development. At his farm were raised and trained many of the fastest horses in the world.
It is now, through the excellent management of Mrs. Stanford, a source of considerable income to the University.
The Gridley Farm contains 22,000 acres, devoted to the raising of wheat.
The Vina farm, the largest of the three estates, contains 59,000 acres. Its original cost was $1,000,000. After it came into his posses- sion Senator Stanford planted upon it 3,000,000 vines, making it the largest vineyard in the world.
In the aggregate these estates contain 88,200 acres. All are thoroughly improved and supplied with buildings, tools and all neces- sary appliances for their successful operation.
At the time the grant to the university was made the estimated value of the Palo Alto property was $1, 200,000; the Gridley farm $1,600,000, and the Vina farm $2,500,000, aggregating $5,300,000.
In addition to the real estate, the cash endowment, used for buildings, libraries, museums and equipments and for funds for current expenses, amounted to about $7.000,000 more, making the total endowment at that time about $12,000,000. These properties have since increased in value, and at present are estimated to be worth $15,000,000.
Since the founding and establishment of the university the death of Senator Stanford has occurred (June 21, 1893), and Mrs. Stanford has carried forward the great work with marvelous energy and judg- ment. Recently, before starting on an extended tour abroad, she transferred to the university lands, bonds, securities and other personal property amounting in value to over $15,000,000 more, so that now the aggregate endowment is upwards of $30,000,000.
The University proper comprises a series of buildings grouped around a quadrangle 586 feet long by 246 feet wide. The enclosed space is laid with bituminous pavement, except where the soil is devoted to the growth of tropical plants and flowers. Opening from the arcade are the various class rooms, laboratories, etc., used in the practical work of the University.
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The Dormitories are east and west of the quadrangle. Encina Hall, for young men, 312X150 feet, is four stories high and is provided with electric lights, hot and cold water, steam heat, ample baths and furni- ture, and accommodates 315 students.
Roble Hall, for young women, is of concrete, and about one-third the size of Encina. It is fitted up in the same manner and accommo- dates 100 students.
On a high terrace south-east of the quadrangle are the residences of the members of the Faculty, all of modern architecture and elegantly furnished. The museum is north of the main buildings and is 313x156 feet.
Our
A GLIMPSE OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY, FROM THE HILLS.
In the rear of the main buildings are the mechanical laboratories, work shops, power houses, etc. There are also numerous other buikt- ings, such as gymnasiums, etc.
The architecture chiefly employed in the construction of the build- ing is Moorish, based upon that of the old missions founded by the Franciscans. The main structures are of Santa Clara County brown stone, obtained at the quarries near New Almaden. At present there are about 1,500 students enrolled, who come from every State in the Union, and nearly every foreign country.
The Faculty comprises some of the most noted educators that the world has produced. David Starr Jordan, President of the University, has a world-wide reputation, both as an educator and a writer.
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SANTA CLARA COLLEGE,
Located at Santa Clara, is the pioneer educational institution of Cali- fornia, having been founded March 19, 1851, by the Society of Jesus. It occupies commodious and extensive buildings surrounding a quad- rangle of about ten acres, which is laid out in lawns, flower gardens, orchard and play grounds. The college has classical, scientific and business courses and a preparatory department.
Aside from the usual features common to most colleges, this institution is remarkable for its completeness of equipment in several special departments. The physical laboratory is unsurpassed in the United States. There is a collection of more than 450 instruments and machines-electrical, mechanical, optical, astronomical. There are nine sectional libraries devoted to the requirements of special depart- ments and a main library of 12,000 volumes.
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC
Is located at College Park, midway between San Jose and Santa Clara. Founded in 1851, it has gradually grown until at present it occupies numerous large and commodious buildings, and is supplied with libra- ries, museums, laboratories, astronomical observatory, etc .. and offers excellent opportunities for higher education under Christian influences. Eli McClish, D. D., the well-known educator and divine, is president of the University.
COLLEGE OF NOTRE DAME,
Founded in 1851 by the Sisters of Notre Dame, is located in San Jose. It has primary, academic and collegiate courses and is well equipped with libraries, laboratories and all needful appliances.
ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE,
Conducted by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, is located at San Jose. It has preparatory, commercial and classical courses and occupies a handsome three-story building. It is for day students only and has desks for 200.
In San Jose are also located two business colleges-the San Jose Business College and Training School and the Garden City Business College-both excellent institutions for the field they are designed to cover.
Numerous academies, seminaries, conservatories of music and pri- vate schools in various parts of the county supplement the work of the public schools and colleges.
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SAN JOSE.
The City of San Jose is the County Seat and has a population of about 30,000. It is in every respect a modern city. It covers an area of about fifteen square miles, though technically the municipal boundary includes only half that space. This is the result of the rapid increase of population without a corresponding enlargement of the city limits.
It is not only a city which presents much that is beautiful and sub- stantial architecturally, but it is a center of art and music, culture and Christianity, noted for its atmosphere of elegance and refinement. Its streets are wide and many of them beautifully paved with asphaltum. Electric cars glide along the streets and far into the suburbs. It is brilliantly lighted, has magnificent and costly public and private build-
FROM THE ELECTRIC LIGHT TOWER, LOOKING EAST.
ings, and is furnished with all the improvements which assist in for- warding the interests of its inhabitants.
The streets of the city present an appearance which is always noted by strangers. The business blocks are, as a rule, handsome architec- turally, and all the public buildings are both massive and imposing. Beautiful residences are so numerous that they always form a subject for remark among visitors from other localities. The streets are not paved with cobble stones, but with smooth and yielding asphaltum, over which vehicles roll almost noiselessly. As the streets are smooth, they are more easily swept than those paved with cobble stones and conse- quently present a neater appearance. The sidewalks are laid with ce- ment or asphaltum, and the streets are sprinkled in summer, and cared for in winter.
Flowers grow here so luxuriously and with so little care that nearly every residence, however humble, has a flower garden. So
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numerous and beautiful are they that San Jose is everywhere known as the Garden City. Every month in the year flowers may be found in bloom.
Another prominent feature is the opportunity presented for driving. Not only are there asphaltum streets, smooth and pleasant to drive upon, but in every direction stretch away broad, hard, well-kept roads. Roads leading through shady lanes, by handsome villas and beautiful gardens, out by converging lines of fruit trees, under spreading oaks and by fields where gentle zephyrs go laughing o'er the wheat. Roads lead in every direction, and in summer nearly every road is sprinkled. Roads lead up and down and across the valley, and one may drive in sunshine or shade, among orchards, by open fields, or ascend to summits overlooking the valley. There is in our roads a variety that never fails to interest, and a beauty that always charms. There is probably no other city in the world which presents such inducements
CITY HALL.
for bicycling, as there are in the city and its suburbs hundreds of miles of roads that can scarcely be approached for excellence.
San Jose has a number of handsome and costly public buildings. Most of them have been constructed within the past few years, and are furnished with the latest improvements in methods of heating, lighting and ventilation.
The City Hall, situated in the center of Market Street Plaza, was built at a cost of $150,000. It is two stories high with a basement, is built of brick and stone and finished with pressed brick and stone trimmings. It is well heated, and lighted with both gas and electricity. Besides furnishing abundant room for city officers, it contains a very large, light and well-ventilated room in which is located the Public Library of over 15,000 volumes.
The Court House and Hall of Records have already been men- tioned.
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The Postoffice Building, completed in 1895, is also an imposing structure, substantially built, and of modern architecture. It is built of gray stone from the Goodrich quarries, and cost $140,696. It contains two stories and a basement, and has apartments not only for the postoffice and its officers, but for other government officials. One of its features is a handsome tower containing a clock with four dials.
In keeping with the spirit of enterprise and progress which characterizes our citizens, San Jose has been provided with a fire department equipped with the latest and most efficient appliances.
San Jose is peculiarly fortunate in regard to the facilities for ob- taining an abundant water supply. The mountains which surround the valley abound with streams and springs, the water from which flows through the valley to the Bay of San Francisco. Some of it is used for power, some for irriga- tion, and some flows away unhindered to the sea. A portion follows down the rock strata which bend down and outward under the val- ley, to rise as life-giving streams of artesian water when the rock is pierced by the drills of the well- borer.
Water may be obtain- ed anywhere in the city at a depth varying from ten to ninety feet, and in portions of the city, ar- tesian water may be se- cured at depths varying from ninety five to four hundred feet. The water supplied by the San Jose Water Company, howey- er, is brought from reser- voirs in the Santa Cruz SAN JOSE POST OFFICE. Mountains, The first water company was organized in 1866, with a capital of $100,000. Water was obtained from artesian wells for about two years, when, owing to the growth of population, it was found necessary to have a more abundant supply, and the right to use the waters of Los Gatos Creek was purchased. In 1868 a new company was organized, and the capital stock was increased to $300,000. This company at once set to work to develop the system which now exists. 'The capital stock was subsequently increased to $1,000,000, great reservoirs were built in the mountains, and other extensive and costly improvements were made.
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PARKS.
San Jose has three parks. two, St. James Park and Washington Square, within the city limits, and Alum Rock Park in a canyon of the Coast Range about seven miles north-east.
St. James Park is almost in the commercial center of the city and has an area of fourteen acres, filled with the finest ornamental trees and shrubs; flowers that bloom the whole year round, and lawns that are always green. Well supplied with seats, it is a favorite place for rest and recreation.
Washington Square contains about thirty acres, in the center being located the State Normal School. The grounds consist of lawns, flower beds, walks and drive ways.
THE ALUM ROCK PARK
Is one of the handsomest natural parks owned by any municipality in the State. It is situated in a canyon in the Coast Range of mount- ains, seven miles north-east of the city, and has an area of 580 acres.
AT THE FOUNTAIN (ST. JAMES PARK.)
Extending through the tract lengthwise a distance of several miles is the beautiful mountain stream now known as La Penitencia. It rises well up toward the summit of the mountains, and is augmented by water from springs and brooks flowing into it until it becomes a good sized stream. It goes rushing through a rough canyon, over rocky rapids, and through narrow gorges and deep pools. In a narrow place in a defile the water falls about seventy-five feet. Mountains rise on either side, and the canyon is rich in vine and verdure.
There are numerous springs within the park, some furnishing pure, and others mineral water. These are scattered along the canyon for a distance of several miles, but the majority of them are in the
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vicinity of the bath house. Sulphur and soda springs are the most prominent. These usually contain other ingredients, such as chloride of magnesium, carbonate of soda, iron, or lime, and other carbonates and sulphates. But one hot spring has been discovered. The water of this has a temperature of 98 degrees as it trickles from the hillside, and is probably much warmer a few feet beneath the surface.
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