Silicon Valley Origins: the Mission and Pueblo

Silicon Valley Origins: The Mission and Pueblo By Lee Foster (Author’s Note: I am out exploring California as I update my bookNorthern California History Weekends for a new edition. This chapter is about the Silicon Valley origins. The high-tech center is located near San Jose, at the south end of San Francisco Bay.) In Brief The Silicon Valley origins are old. For example, shortly after Washington crossed the Delaware in 1777, Padre Thomas de la Pena was planting a wooden cross on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Northern California. As a result, the pioneer priest established Mission Santa Clara de Asis. The mission honored St. Clare of Assisi, the first Franciscan nun. The missionaries then established San Jose Pueblo. Settlers later arrived to farm the fertile Santa Clara Valley. Today you can get a sense of the mission by visiting the University of Santa Clara. There you can see a replica of one of the later mission churches. Other historic attractions are found at the Peralta Adobe. The Adobe exhibits the Spanish-Mexican era. In addition, nearby Fallon House portrays the early American period. Tiny Pellier Historic Park celebrates the development of fruit agriculture, especially the plum orchards. But to get a feel for the development of San Jose, especially as the 19th century progressed, go to the downtown area. Historic Peralta Adobe in San Jose, CA The Historic Story First, visitors begin at the Mission Santa Clara de Asis (408/554-4023, https://www.scu.edu/missionchurch/). You can review the Historical Information tab on the right. The mission is located on the campus of the present Santa Clara University. It is the eighth mission built in the Franciscan chain. Based on the padres’ own measure of success, Santa Clara exceeded every other mission in California. That criterion was, of course, the number of “heathens” baptized into Christianity. For instance, nearly 9,000 Native Americans were converted between 1777 and 1832. In 1800 the missionaries claimed to have 1,228 Indians associated with Mission Santa Clara. This was one of the largest concentrations of Indians in a mission at the time. Every Saturday they butchered 12 cattle for their food. Santa Clara also ranked fourth in total livestock among the missions in 1832. Meanwhile, the viceroy of Mexico envisioned Santa Clara as a perimeter supply post. He also saw it as a fortification for Mission Dolores in Yerba Buena. To clarify, Yerba Buena was the early name for the city of San Francisco. Santa Clara was to be the food-producing unit. It would help sustain the regional Spanish presence. In this task the mission succeeded. Certainly they were assisted by the fertility of the soil and cooperation of the Indians. In addition, the pioneers had able Franciscan leadership. Add to this, the mission artisans were well known, especially for their weaving. Mission Ruins Today on the Santa Clara campus you can see a replica of the third mission church. The reproduction dates from 1825. Due to floods, earthquakes, and fires, four earlier churches were destroyed. In addition, the founders had made inappropriate site choices. This probably added to their demise. Nevertheless, you can still see fragments of the original mission cross. The pieces are preserved under glass in the current cross in front of the church. An adobe wall from the 1822 mission period remains, along with an adobe structure that now serves as the faculty club. These adobes are the oldest buildings on a college campus in the western United States. Behind the adobe wall are olive trees, also from the 1820s. This peaceful, floriferous, enclosed area approximates for the visitor the calm, orderly garden compound of the early mission, with the pealing bells marking the routine of the day. Bells from as early as 1798 still hang in the tower. Interior of historic Peralta Adobe in San Jose, CA Downtown San Jose After perusing the mission, head for historic downtown San Jose. In November 1777, sixty-six soldiers, settlers, and family members were chosen from the Presidios at San Francisco and Monterey to found a new pueblo, San Jose de Guadalupe, at the south end of San Francisco Bay. The rationale for pueblos was to boost food production that could sustain the presidios and missions, institutions with which the Spanish had much experience in settling new territories. San Jose grew slowly. By 1841 the population had risen from the original 66 to only about 300. Travelers commented that it was a small village with a few adobes and tamped earthen houses. Life in San Jose was simple and primitive, yet the climate was attractive and retiring soldiers favored it for their homes. San Jose was a key point at the end of the immigrant trek from Sutter’s Fort around the south end of San Francisco Bay, after the immigrants had crossed the Sierra Nevada. The Santa Clara Valley was often called the Valley of San Jose in those days. Later it received the affectionate name Valley of Heart’s Delight because of the beauty of the fruit tree blossoms. Peralta Adobe At 175 W. St. John Street, near North San Pedro Street, you’ll see the premier historic structure in the region, the Luis Maria Peralta Adobe (408/918-1040, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/santaclara/per.htm). The early home is the last vestige of El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe. It was built before 1800 and later bought by Peralta, who had come to California with the Anza expedition in 1775-1776. Peralta and his wife, Maria Loreto Alviso, populated the countryside with 17 children, a not uncommon number for Californio families. As a reward for military service, Peralta was given one of the largest and most valuable Spanish land grants, Rancho San Antonio, 44,000 acres. When he died in 1851, Peralta’s net worth exceeded a million uninflated dollars. In the twilight of the adobe era, excitement ran high as the Mexican War with the United States began, in 1846. San Jose then had a public house and three or four small stores. Captain Thomas Fallon, whose later wooden house stands opposite the Peralta adobe, rode into town with his group of California Volunteers, captured the jail, and hoisted the American flag. Today the Fallon House (408/287-2290, http://historysanjose.org/wp/plan-your-visit/peralta-fallon-historic-site/) is a museum showing artifacts of the period. Other Attractions The most sustained economic life in this valley before the recent electronics boom was fruit agriculture, especially plums. Pellier Historical Park, at Terraine and West St. James streets in San Jose, recognizes this contribution with plantings of plums, pears, and other orchard crops, plus grapes, dedicated to individual pioneering agricultural families. The park is only a block from the Peralta Adobe. The Romanesque-style post office building at 110 S. Market Street has become the San Jose Museum of Art (408/271-6840). While much of earlier downtown San Jose has disappeared before the forces of modernization, this handsome old structure was saved. Constructed in 1892, this was the first federal building in San Jose. It served as a U.S. Post Office from 1892 to 1923. Designed by Willoughby Edbrooke and constructed of locally quarried sandstone, it is the last of its kind on the West Coast. Getting There San Jose is 51 miles south of San Francisco on Highway 101 or Interstate 280. Be Sure to See Make an itinerary of the Santa Clara Mission and then the San Jose sites mentioned (Peralta Adobe, Fallon House, Pellier Park, and San Jose Museum of Art). Best Time of Year Any time of year is good for San Jose. Interior of historic Fallon House in San Jose, CA Lodging The luxurious Fairmont Hotel (170 S. Market St., San Jose; 408/998-1900; www.fairmont.com) is a gracious 541-room structure that anchors modern downtown San Jose. Dining One landmark Italian restaurant is Original Joe’s (corner of First and San Carlos streets, 408/292-7030). There are 110 choices on its elaborate menu. For Further Information Contact Team San Jose, San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau (333 W. San Carlos St., Ste, 1000, 888/726-5673, www.sanjose.org). .

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