TWHP


San Jose, Santa Clara Street   

San Jose claims a unique distinction as the first town established in Upper California, in 1777. Up to then, all other Spanish settlements were founded as missions or army posts; San Jose was envisioned as a supply depot for the region's military. Situated in a fertile, well-watered valley just south of the San Francisco Bay, vast herds of cattle and sheep came to surround the community for dozens of miles in every direction, while corn plantings flourished in the mild, fog-free climate. Mercury deposits came to light just south of the town, and mining began in 1847; the mineral is useful in separating gold and silver from crushed ore, and the New Almaden mines came on line just in time to supply the Mother and Comstock lodes.

The Gold Rush spurred growth as San Jose emerged as one of many supply centers for the miners, the food produced there going to new, lucrative markets. After California gained statehood, it became the first capitol for the 1850-51 legislative year, but was soon abandoned because of dissatisfaction with the accommodations. Even so, San Jose prospered with its agricultural economy, the cattle, sheep and corn eventually displaced by wheat, and then the fruit orchards that would come to dominate much of the land south of San Francisco and its bay. The train to San Francisco, completed in 1864, further enhanced its commercial position, and communities grew up all along the line as they drew people from the bustling city to accessible rural splendors.

Canneries and fruit-drying facilities proliferated, and in the years after the Transcontinetal Railroad opened up in 1869, San Jose's produce suffused much of the nation, fostering a thriving class of boosters, businessmen and merchants of very sort. By the 1880s, they were unhappy with the rate of urban improvement--paved streets, lighting and the like--and initiatives were taken to raise money without raising taxes, a neat trick accomplished by annexing outlying areas into the growing town. The result was a sprawling city, the largest between San Francisco and Southern California.


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