San Jose, California

History

Site chosen by De Anza

For thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers, the area now known as San Jose was inhabited by several groups of Ohlone Native Americans. Permanent European presence in the area came with the 1770 founding of the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo by Gaspar de Portolà and Father Junípero Serra, about sixty miles (100 km) to the south. Don Pedro Fages, the military governor at Monterey, passed through the area on his 1770 and 1772 expeditions to explore the East Bay and Sacramento River Delta. Late in 1775, Juan Bautista de Anza led an expedition to bring colonists from New Spain to California and to locate sites for two missions, one presidio, and one pueblo (town). He left the colonists at Monterey in 1776, and explored north with a small group. He selected the sites of the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asís in what is now San Francisco; on his way back to Monterey, he sited Mission Santa Clara de Asís and the pueblo San José in the Santa Clara Valley. De Anza returned to Mexico City before any of the settlements were actually founded, but his name lives on in many buildings and street names.

Related Topics:
Europe - Ohlone - Native American - 1770 - Presidio of Monterey - Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo - Gaspar de Portolà - Junípero Serra - Pedro Fages - 1772 - East Bay - Sacramento River Delta - 1775 - Juan Bautista de Anza - New Spain - Mission - Presidio - 1776 - Presidio of San Francisco - Mission San Francisco de Asís - San Francisco - Mission Santa Clara de Asís - Santa Clara Valley - Mexico City

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Early Spanish pueblo

El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (Town of Saint Joseph on Wolf River) was founded by José Joaquin Moraga on November 29, 1777, the first settlement not associated with a mission or a military post (presidio) in Alta California. (Mission Santa Clara, the closest mission, was founded earlier in 1777, three miles (5 km) from the original pueblo site in neighboring Santa Clara. Mission San José de Guadalupe was not founded until 1797, about 20 miles (30 km) north of San Jose in what is now Fremont.) The town was founded by the colonists led to California by de Anza, as a farming community to provide food for the presidios of San Francisco and Monterey. In 1778, the pueblo had a population of 68. In 1797, the pueblo was moved from its original location, near the present-day intersection of Guadalupe Parkway and Taylor Street, to a location in what is now Downtown San Jose, surrounding Pueblo Plaza (now Plaza de César Chávez).

Related Topics:
Saint Joseph - November 29 - 1777 - Mission - Alta California - Santa Clara - Mission San José de Guadalupe - 1797 - Fremont - 1778 - Guadalupe Parkway - Plaza de César Chávez

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Early statehood

During the Bear Flag Revolt, Captain Thomas Fallon led a small force from Santa Cruz and captured the pueblo without bloodshed on July 11, 1846. Fallon received an American flag from John D. Sloat, and raised it over the pueblo on July 14, as the California Republic agreed to join the United States following the start of the Mexican-American War. Fallon would later become the tenth mayor of San Jose.

Related Topics:
Bear Flag Revolt - Thomas Fallon - Santa Cruz - July 11 - 1846 - American flag - John D. Sloat - July 14 - United States - Mexican-American War

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During the California Gold Rush period, the New Almaden Mines just south of the city were the largest mercury mines in North America (mercury was used to help separate gold from ore). The cinnabar deposits had been discovered during the Mexican era, and mining operations began in 1845, the first operating mine in the province. The importance of the mercury industry at the time explains why the local newspaper is named the Mercury News.

Related Topics:
California Gold Rush - Mercury - Cinnabar - Mexican - 1845 - Mercury News

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On March 27, 1850, San Jose became the first incorporated city in the U.S. state of California, the first mayor was Josiah Belden. It also served as the state's first capital with the first and second sessions of the California Legislature, known as the Legislature of a Thousand Drinks, being held there in 1850 and 1851. The legislature was unhappy with the location, as no buildings suitable for a state government were available in the city, and took up State Senator Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo's offer to build a new capital on land he donated to the state in what is now Benicia.

Related Topics:
March 27 - 1850 - U.S. state - Josiah Belden - California Legislature - 1851 - Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo - Benicia

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Notable events

In 1881, because of a forceful campaign by editor J.J. Owen of the San Jose Mercury News, the city council authorized the construction of the San Jose Electric Light Tower, ostensibly to replace the gas streetlights that had illuminated downtown San Jose since 1861. It didn't provide sufficient illumination, and by 1884 was used only for ceremonial purposes. It collapsed during a gale in 1915. In 1989, the city of San Jose filed suit against France and the Eiffel estate, claiming that the Eiffel Tower was a copyright infringement of the Electric Light Tower; the suit was eventually dismissed.

Related Topics:
1881 - 1861 - 1884 - Gale - 1915 - 1989 - France - Eiffel - Eiffel Tower - Copyright infringement

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The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, with its epicenter near Daly City http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/04/11/BAGB163KV81.DTL between San Jose and San Francisco, devastated the few large buildings in San Jose. The city was still primarily rural and the population much smaller than San Francisco, so houses and businesses were not so closely built, providing no opportunity for a major fire like the one that destroyed the city up the Peninsula. The all-brick Agnews Asylum (later Agnews State Hospital) suffered possibly the worst damage in the San Jose area, killing over 100 people as the walls and roof collapsed. The 8-year-old San Jose High School's three-story stone and brick structure also collapsed, and many other buildings were severely damaged.

Related Topics:
1906 San Francisco earthquake - Daly City

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The 1933 kidnapping and murder of Brooke Hart resulted in mob violence in San Jose. About 10,000 residents (approximately 1/6 of the city's population at the time) stormed the jail and lynched the two men who had confessed to the killing. The case drew international attention to San Jose, for the kidnapping, lynching, and for the praise that Governor James Rolph directed to those who participated. It is also notable as the last public lynching in California's history. Photos of the lynchings were even used as Nazi propaganda.

Related Topics:
1933 - Kidnap - Murder - Brooke Hart - Lynched - Governor - James Rolph - Nazi - Propaganda

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Transition from agriculture to technology

For nearly two centuries a farming community, San Jose produced a significant amount of fruits and vegetables until the 1960s, and many past and current names of teams, streets, buildings, and so on reflect its agricultural beginnings. Prunes, grapes, and apricots were some of the major crops. In 1922, the first commercial farming of broccoli in the US was started in San Jose, by brothers Stephano and Andrea D'Arrigo. The Del Monte cannery in Midtown was the largest employer in the city for many years. 1

Related Topics:
1960s - Prune - Grape - Apricot - 1922 - Farming - Broccoli - Del Monte - Midtown - 1

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Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) was founded in San Jose as the Bean Spray Pump Company in 1883. http://www.fmc.com/Corporate/V2/GeneralDetail/0,1478,16,00.html http://www.fmctechnologies.com/FTI/__about_history_action/1,1114,1,00.html? In 1941 the company received an order from the United States War Department for one thousand LVTs, bringing defense contracts to San Jose for the first time. FMC's military business would later be spun off into United Defense. http://www.uniteddefense.com/co/history.htm

Related Topics:
1883 - 1941 - United States War Department - LVT - United Defense

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IBM established their west coast headquarters in San Jose in 1943. In 1952 they opened a research and development facility in downtown, where Reynold Johnson and his team invented RAMAC. In 1956 IBM opened its Cottle Road manufacturing facility in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, where disc drives were invented in 1962. IBM moved the research and development operation out of downtown, opening the Santa Teresa Laboratories in the Coyote Valley in 1976, and the Almaden Research Center in 1986.2

Related Topics:
IBM - 1943 - 1952 - Reynold Johnson - RAMAC - 1956 - Santa Teresa - Disc drive - 1962 - Santa Teresa Laboratories - Coyote Valley - 1976 - Almaden Research Center - 1986 - 2

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Major growth

A. P. Hamann (nicknamed "Dutch") became city manager in 1950. At the time, the city had a population of 95,000 and a total area of only 17 mi². Hamann instituted an aggressive growth program by annexation of adjacent areas, such as Alviso, Cambrian Park, and other neighborhoods, and a program of dispersed urbanization, sometimes called "los angelization". Hamann also spent significant time on the East Coast, selling San Jose as an ideal place for businesses to expand into. Hamann's efforts resulted in an annual population growth rate of over eight percent. When Hamann left office in 1969, San Jose had grown to 495,000 residents and 136 mi². 1

Related Topics:
A. P. Hamann - City manager - 1950 - Annex - Alviso - Cambrian Park - Los angelization - East Coast - 1969 - 1

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Following Hamann's retirement, anti-growth city councils came to power, cemented with the 1971 election of Norman Mineta as mayor. Under Mineta, the city adopted the "General Plan" that restricted development of land inside the incorporated area of San Jose and banned development in an additional 200 mi² east and south of the city, an area known as San Jose's sphere of influence. To the west, communities such as Campbell and Cupertino had incorporated as cities to avoid being annexed to San Jose, while expansion to the north was impossible because of San Francisco Bay. The result was that there was no land available to build housing. The plan's goal was to bring population growth down to a more manageable level. 3

Related Topics:
1971 - Norman Mineta - Campbell - Cupertino - San Francisco Bay - 3

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However, with the boom of the electronics industry, specifically personal computers and integrated circuits, San Jose and the surrounding areas' population continued to grow rapidly. By 1980, the city's population was 630,000; it reached 782,000 by 1990; and at which point Santa Clara County as a whole had grown to 1,682,585 residents. However, the city council passed another General Plan in 1994 with the original 1974 urban growth boundaries intact. As a result, housing costs in San Jose and the rest of the Bay Area rose faster than the national average in the 1980s and 1990s; between 1976 and 2001, San Jose's housing costs increased by 936 percent, the fastest growth in the nation over that time. The average 2003 home price in Santa Clara County was approximately 330 percent of the national average. 3

Related Topics:
Electronics - Personal computer - Integrated circuit - 1980 - 1990 - 1994 - 1974 - Urban growth boundaries - Bay Area - 1980s - 1990s - 3

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Many people's view of San Jose is still formed by the Dionne Warwick hit from the 1960s, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David (neither of whom had spent time there and chose the name because it suited the tune), it includes the lyrics, "there's a lot of space in San Jose; there'll be a place where I can stay" and "I may go wrong and lose my way," and contrasts it to Los Angeles, "a great big freeway." In 1960, the population of San Jose was only 204,000, just over a fifth of the 2003 population. The only freeway through or near San Jose was U.S. Highway 101, which touched only the outermost edges of the city and was still a rural route or controlled by traffic lights in some areas. A large portion of the Santa Clara Valley still contained commercial orchards.

Related Topics:
Dionne Warwick - Burt Bacharach - Hal David - U.S. Highway 101

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