All posts by evergreen

Apricot Town

April 16, 2016Artwork, Concept, Historical Researchagriculture, apricots, coe, fruit, kettmann, orchards, pellier, prunes, san jose, township, Valley of heart's Delightevergreen

In discussing what makes Evergreen what it is today, I kept being asked about the variety of fruit shown in the proposed artwork. Almost every interviewee asked me why I was showing love to all the fruit picked here. We have vineyards associated with Evergreen, for sure. My parents kept telling us that they moved in across from apricot orchards and the houses were built when we were too young to remember. The majority of orchards in Evergreen were apricots.

Barry Swenson, Evergreen Native and Downtown Developer, recalls the school schedule coinciding with harvest schedules. “Cot” Season would be from July to August, prune harvest following that before school would resume. Prunes were a big business in the Valley of Heart’s Delight with 80,000 acres of prune trees. Apricots would come in second with some 7,000 acres of trees. Farming families would raise huge farms and huge families to cultivate the rich Evergreen soil. Harvest time was a community event. Families, companies and neighbors all pitched in to pick fruit and harvest grain.

I bet you’re asking: “What’s the prune got that the apricot doesn’t?”

Luis Pellier’s small Agen prune / plum cions would make him famous once successfully grafted or implanted onto a natural wild California plum tree. He’s often called the father of the “California Fruit Industry.” The prune was successfully marketed as “Fine to Dry”, though the prune would need to be hastened through a boiling or dipping process. Prunes as a crop were much easier to harvest than apricots, so they were an attractive investment. Santa Clara County would grow up around prune orchards and packing factory all thanks to Pellier. The Apricot didn’t have a fancy PR campaign and wasn’t so easily dried and exported.

Canned apricots are totally cool and were popular. I certainly remember eating them as a kid. They would still play second fiddle in the Santa Clara Valley to the prune. In the later half of the 1800’s though, that dried prune had the country captivated. Dried fruit to export was a new thing. Canned fruit had been around for a little while as the primary way of exporting fruit long distances. In fact, there weren’t can openers when Evergreen fruit started going into cans. Railroads would be the only way to get fresh fruit out of the Santa Clara Valley. Into the 1900’s, Evergreen Packer, Edmund N. Richmond and the Richmond-Chase Company would be one of those canners using Evergreen harvested apricots.

Not until San Felipe Ranch owner, Henry W. Coe for which the largest State Park is named, changed the drying process did apricots take off. Apricots sun-dried and pitted without any treatment get really sweet but black in color. That’s a difficult product to get to sell. Henry W. Coe perfected the apricot drying system with a sulfur smoke which preserved the color and the golden apricot embraced as a fine dried fruit. Coe was a business man using his back East, New York connections. His exports and products may have inspired the “Heart’s Delight” knick name by the rest of the Country. Importing and exporting was Henry Coe’s strength and he was first to market with the dried apricot.

It turns out that back East, people loved golden apricots and may have gotten over the whole prune fad. The dried ‘cot was new and hip. The farmers across the Town of Evergreen would be blanketed with thousands of acres of apricot orchards. In 1914, 600,000 apricot trees were recorded in Santa Clara County, most of those planted in Evergreen. In the early 1900’s, the apricot industry would improve in Evergreen. German-American farmer, Mr. Emil Farhner, would figure out that cutting the apricot in half, not just pit them, would hasten drying as well as prevent blackening and reduce drying error.

The dried golden apricot technique was perfected here in Evergreen. The delicious snack quickly became a big hit across the country. Tons of the dried fruit were sent around the world, over 25,000 tons exported a year from Santa Clara County. Apricots became especially big business for the Evergreen orchardists. Eastside San Jose Fruit Growers Association would operate out of McLaughlin Road and Tully Road Headquarters until 1899 when it was acquired by California Prune and Apricot Growers, which eventually became SunSweet.

The dried ‘cot was so popular, the methods of harvest also needed to innovate to keep up with the demand. Prunes fell to the ground for harvest, where apricots had to be picked off the trees while on ladders. That can be a balancing act. An Evergreen Native would own the patent on the apricot picking bucket in 1920. Evergreen Native and youngest son of Gerhard Kettmann, for whom Kettmann Road is named, would invent a bucket that hung over the ladder rung, where tying the bucket would eventually dump the bucket or limit how many you could pick at a time. The apricot industry would really develop in Evergreen soil.

Back to that PR campaign the dried prune had, the apricot cions were brought with Spanish colonists through the El Camino Real and raised on the Mission lands. Mission of Santa Clara and Pueblo de San Jose were founded in 1777. Mission of San Jose would open its doors in 1797. That would date the apricots’ roots back in California before 1800.

The apricots were already here before the European immigrants and California Statehood. Spanish “Mission Grapes”, too, were also already around and probably the vines French cions would be grafted on to by Pellier. There were no printing presses to spread agricultural trends in the mid 1800’s. Some Santa Clara Valley farmers would witness the Industrial Revolution very personally and learn to adapt their machinery and techniques, like Andrew Kettmann.

A little trivia: When a apricot and a plum/prune have a baby, it’s called a pluot.

Another bit of trivia: All prunes are plums, but not all plums are prunes.

When people think of Evergreen, they think specifically of Apricots. I think that’s because of the frequency of “Cot” orchards in and around town. It’s not misplaced association, however. I don’t think people know how Evergreen apricots really are. The apricot was made perfect here by forward thinking farmers. The “Cot” is definitely an Evergreen thing.

Here’s some of the artwork we have planned with ‘cots featured.

Evergreen Founders

April 13, 2016Artwork, Historical Researchbusiness, evergreen people, family, generations, KR Smith, settlers, townshipevergreen

Let’s straighten out a couple facts before we discuss the Town Founders. Antonio Chaboya, son of Marcos Chaboya and brother of Pedro Chaboya, was granted over 24,000 acres of land known as Rancho Yerba Buena. This is the area we know as Evergreen. Before Spanish and Mexican colonization, there were Native Ohlone people here, whom we’ll discuss after we talk to our first person references. The Chaboyas would sell Rancho Yerba Buena after European immigrants squatted and fought for rights to their homesteads. It wasn’t violent but it wasn’t pretty.

After the Chaboyas let go of their greatest investment, Evergeen the Town or Village was built up centered about modern day San Felipe Road and Aborn Road. In fact, we’ve discussed previously that Aborn was once called Evergreen Road, connecting with King Road and then to the City of San Jose. This map is from 1863. This first generations of Evergreen Smiths were born in Germany in the 1830-40’s. As you can see from the map above, the Smiths were some of the first Europeans to settle in Evergreen.

Charles C. Smith moved in first. After coming to Santa Clara County in 1859, Charles would develop a farm and do a little blacksmithing on the side. He would later go on to be successful in real estate in Downtown San Jose with the firm Phelps & Smith. Charles had diverse business holdings. Charles and his wife had 10 kids.

Next door, in 1868, brother Francis Joe Smith and he would open the General Store off San Felipe Road. This was Evergreen’s very first business. Shortly after, Francis would also open a winery, though not Evergreen’s first. Francis Joe Smith would become the Town Post Master in 1870 when Evergreen got a Post Office. Francis Joe would also begin to diversify his investments with mining and other ventures.

Francis and wife, Catherine, would have a daughter who would never marry but would embrace Evergreen with both arms wide open. Katherine, Katie, R. Smith would be a teacher than the principal of the Evergreen School. The School District, founded in 1860, would name a school after her over 100 years after the first school was built. KR Smith Elementary School was the second school opened in Evergreen. She would’ve attended and taught at the original school, then facilitated its moving further down San Felipe Road then to Fowler Road. Katherine R. Smith would live to over 100 years old and continue to be involved in the School District. She also held the record of oldest San Jose State graduate for a number of years.

Though their historical restoration and preservation has not been determined as of yet, the Smith Residences from the 1860’s still stand in Evergreen today off of San Felipe Road, obscured by once renowned, now overgrown, orange orchards. It’s described as a Gothic Classic Revival farmhouse. The stores along San Felipe burnt down. Then again, their houses weren’t this close to the road back then. San Felipe has been revised and straightened out.

The Smith families, both large, would marry into other Evergreen families and take over their fathers’ investments. They appear in several maps at various times, creating a redundancy. Descendants of the Smith Family still live in Evergreen today. Don’t confuse James Franklin Smith Elementary School for the same Smith Family, however. I have an interview with that involve Evergreen administrator coming up. Here’s the artwork we’ve prepared to celebrate the Smith Family in our timeline.

Drawing Room Floor – Part 2

As new pieces of research and new people influence this artwork, we’ve been throwing out bits of amazing artwork. Here’s a couple pieces that didn’t make the cut.

Graffiti, Tagging and Art

April 3, 2016Concept, Project launchcinnabar, crime, evergreen, graffiti, modernevergreen

We’re using are to address some difficult issues Evergreen is facing. The most obvious is graffiti, but more specifically tagging. Graffiti is a kind of Art, so I’m going to do some technical waxing and defining for a sec before getting to the Evergreen epidemic. I’ll keep it short, but this is my area of expertise.

The Arts is the study of any form of human expression, so they cover a broad range of topics. Graffiti is a kind of Art, short for Visual Arts. Graffiti is a type of street expression or hip hop that is most often executed in spray paint is totally stunning when done well. This example here is totally collaborative and organic. I find it wicked inspiring. It’s also the dead end for Fowler Creek, so an Evergreen historic landmark of sorts. This would’ve been Downtown Evergreen back in the day.

Tagging, the dreaded enemy, is the single color spray painted, hurried expression. It’s often a number, name or identifying mark of some kind. Yuck. Evergreen is host to both expressions.

These two example pictures were taken from the same Evergreen location, with the lens pointed in opposite directions.

Now, I would be lying if I told you I didn’t appreciate the colors, the lines and the value of this style of graffiti art. I went to school in Southern California, finding myself inspired by LA’s hip hop vibe and graffiti. I love the goofy giraffe off of our Cal Trains. The truth is the only thing that separates this from Fine Arts is the legal permissions and contracts that go with its preservation.

Working in public schools in Eastside San Jose and Evergreen, I have the conversation with high school students all the time about painting murals, doing something you love for a living, and how I use it as opportunity to say something later. I encourage entrepreneurship with education. I encourage students to ask for proper permissions, have a clear thought and a game plan. Your property owner will respect that and therefore protect your work.

I was having that conversation with students pretty half cocked, never having asked for permissions for public artwork before, instead executing private contracts. I never opened myself up to the Public Sector before like I have with this project. It has been well received by every level of the Community. Now that I’ve done it personally, I’ve not been misinforming the youth. If you have a good idea, it’s going to find support. I feel a little better about the conversations I’ve had with Silver Creek students loitering and watching me paint over the summers.

The problem in Evergreen was visually obvious. When I first reached out to the City of San Jose in regards to the Evergreen Mural Walk, I was sent a long list of places and people that have been affected by graffiti. From retirement communities and schools to private property damage, the scars it leaves on this Community aren’t pretty.

This visual allows for the Broken Window Theory to set in. This is an idea within the study of criminology which leads to added and worsening destruction and in this case crime. Evergreen experiences above national average numbers for violent crimes and home invasions. I need students driven to school instead feeling safe enough to walk. This project is aimed at trickling down positive, starting with removing this, the most visible canvas.

The Evergreen Mural Walk artwork is absolutely designed with graffiti and tattoo influences. They’ll be fun to paint should any graffiti artists come out from local high schools. The bright, bold colors is something I feel very strongly about recreating. Graffiti Artist don’t mark on top of what they consider to be “Good Art”, adding to culture and acknowledging their existence. It’s an odd ethic, but a treaty I broker with a cool approach and reap the rewards all over Evergreen schools.

Hopefully the Evergreen Mural Walk gets these individuals involved and creates community stewards of them. It ought to create community pride in its execution and subject matter. This shows the street culture of Evergreen while limiting its further decay.

Here’s further evidence of our Evergreen Problem

Trumpet Call! – Evergreen Poetry

March 29, 2016Concept, Historical Researcharts, coe, evergreen, inspiration, literature, nature, wildernessevergreen

Winnifred Coe Verbica, who died on March 31, 2013, in the early 1950s

Winnifred Coe Verbica was an inspiring Evergreen woman, but she’s also apart of Evergreen’s literary tradition. Here’s a poem her son Peter shared with me.

Trumpet Call!

When He calls me home,
My God and King,
May my heart be shown
What joy shall ring!

All the angels there
In Heaven’s world
See the answered prayer
Of sinners hurled.

Nothing here on earth
On land or sea
Measure Heaven’s worth,
Or what it will be.

None of us can know
When time shall cease.
God alone can show
It’s great increase.

Yet I’ll trust and wait
With eager heart
Standing at the gate
His trumpet shall start

Treasuring the time
Until he calls:
Wonderment sublime
In Heaven’s halls.

There with saints of old
I’ll kneel and pray…
There my Lord behold:
Triumphant day!

C 1995 Winnifred Coe Verbica

“My mother passed away in 2013 on Easter – what a great poem to remind us all of the brevity of life and the legacy we leave behind.”

-Peter Coe Verbica

Sparkling Evergreen Waterways

March 27, 2016Artwork, Concept, Historical Researchcreeks, evergreen, geography, modern, silver creekevergreen

Throughout Evergreen’s over 200 year History, we hear described a network of creeks running though town. As a kid, I would form a personal relationship poking around for toad and bull frogs, swinging from tires and racing over bridges with my friends. Little did I know, these creek beds are a contributing factor to the name Evergreen.

The Spanish and Mexican powers in California would call them the lagunitas. The creeks ran off into the large laguna or lake. Evergreen was rather marshy. This Rancho Yerba Buena Chaboya Diseno notes several creeks running through the Evergreen hills. This map especially notes Dry Creek, Thomspon Creek and Coyote Creek, the western border of Rancho Yerba Buena.

What the Mexican Chaboya land grant from 1833 doesn’t show contrary to so many other maps and disenos of this neighborhood is that San Felipe Road after the intersection with Evergreen Lane now Aborn Road run parallel to a large creek. Evergreen was built around its creeks. The town of Evergreen would built up around its creeks and learn to rely on them.

This creek to the left was once called Dry Creek. Dedicated in 1974 as Thompson Creek, Dry Creek ran directly through the town of Evergreen founded in 1866. It was amazing to hear that these bridges I crossed on my bike as a child would have been crossed for some 100 years before. These bridges connected distance farmers and ranchers to the center of Evergreen.

The original path of San Felipe Road 150 years ago was parallel to this creek almost directly after Evergreen Lane. Keaton Loop, which sneaks behind Wells Fargo on San Felipe was the original route, hugging the creek bed. This route feels old timey as all get out. The original schoolhouse would be located in the shopping center on the other side of this creek crossing.

Most popular small crossings of Thompson Creek are between Cadwallader Avenue and Keaton Loop, to the south of Evergreen Lane/Aborn Road, and Scottsdale Drive and Pettigrew Drive, to the north of Evergreen Lane/Aborn Road. These are both super close to White Road and San Felipe Road. Students from 1860 would’ve crossed these bridges to get to class. Thompson creek dumps into Cunningham after traveling parallel with Capitol Expressway a little. It cuts diagonal after Quimby Road toward and past Evergreen Library. Thompson Creek will loosely follow San Felipe traveling south until Yerba Buena Road. There, the creek makes a left hand turn and hugs the Evergreen Valley College campus to its south. Thompson Creek water ways have inspired this murals.

Dry Creek is what follows straight along San Felipe Road. This was appropriately named as it run dry most times of the year. Water from Anderson Reservoir would be pumped in to supply farmers with irrigation. This would create family feuds over water right between neighbors.

Back in the day, it was the Laguna Secrayre. Lake Cunningham, before its new name and the creation of the park, was Silver Lake. Velma Million, park creator, named the park after the gentleman who owned the land last. Frank Cunningham purchased the land from Evergreen pioneer, John Tully. City of San Jose had to seize the land in the early 1900’s for flood control. As late as 1969, Silver Lake flooded its banks into neighboring low lying houses. Today, this popular hiking and picnic destination serves a second purpose equalizing water levels. Velma created the park in 1973, with a vision to create a “Vasona of the East” in a rapidly developing San Jose. She created a positive from a negative. Velma herself is truly inspirational to me, so we’ll save her story for another blog.

Silver Creek along the western side of old Evergreen. It no longer exists today. There are some traces of the Silver Creek around today, beyond the naming of the school and surrounding neighborhood. Silver Creek was built directly on top of for Highway 101 and Capitol Expressway. The ruins of Silver Creek can be found at the on ramp of Yerba Buena Road and US 101 North.

Silver Creek Road closely followed Silver Creek while it was around, but modern day King Road, which it turns into, does not. Portions of Silver Creek exist near Silver Creek Linear Park. Portions of it exist near new development in the old Hassler property now known as the Ranch, as well as along the backside Silver Creek County Club. To the right is one of those relics of Silver Creek.

Norwood Creek, for which a school is named, flows from Capitol Expressway to White Road, then haults to an office center and residential subdivision. It does reemerge in high elevations. It has several Water Facilities along Norwood Avenue diverting this natural flow. At one time, it would’ve paralleled the entire length of Norwood Avenue.

I suspect this what’s left of the Fowler Creek which, like the road, was named after farmer Andrew Fowler. You can find this water way tunnel off of San Felipe Road connecting with Thompson Creek, if you know where to look. I think it’s actually quite stunning. This creek would have split off San Felipe Road and followed Fowler Road east, but this area has been entirely developed. On Google Earth, where Fowler Creek would’ve begun back in the day, there’s a large water tank. Farming also could’ve dried Fowler Creek up over time.

The creeks Evergreen all tie into a larger network the flow to either Calaveras Reservoir or Anderson Reservoir. The Evergreen streams have been drying up for sometime, though. Modern day Evergreen experiences golden hills in summer and autumn, but that was not always true. Farming in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s found easy, dependable water sources close by. These streams and creek would be diverted for orchards and crops. Natural ponds would quench the thirst of cattle. This and flood control measures lighten our hills in warmer months. Drought doesn’t help. The hills are especially lush lately. Their naturally green grasslands were irrigated by running streams since the Ohlone Indians discovered Evergreen.

I went back to one of my favorite creek beds as a child, behind my old elementary school, Millbrook. This is Quimby Creek, but as you can see and as I can hear late at night, the waterflow has a healthy wildlife. The particular bridge connects Millbrook Drive with D’Amico Drive. Quimby Creek connects to Thompson Creek with another quaint bridge from Scottsdale Drive to Aborn Ct.

Egrets make a home in our healthy Evergreen waterways. I used to see them all the time as a kid where Beschoff Motors is now. They’re frequently by Capitol Expressway. I found this guy over by Linear Park.

Sadly, many of the creeks and natural water flows have been built on top of, but should you be able to find them, you’ve found a little Evergreen History flowing in front of you. Thompson Creek has a lovely trail, but it does feature tagging. Consider tagging and graffiti also a part of Evergreen’s identity. It’s just the fact.

Redundant Theme – Orchardists

An overwhelming motif of Evergreen is our orchards. You’re going to see a lot of trees in rows portrayed throughout the Evergreen Mural Walk.

My parents would tell tales of moving in across Stevens Lanes from apricot orchards. In creating the artwork for this project, everyone asked why there weren’t more apricots and prunes. This theme is plain as day to those of us who remember fruit stands and vineyards. Our newer residents may not understanding what was here before we moved in.

Our Evergreen entrepreneur and agriculturalist, Luis Pellier, hatched a plan in 1847 while gold panning to bring the seeds, plants and clippings from his native France and forever change the fruit industry of California. The cost of a single apple was $1.50 at the time, which in 1849 dollars was cost prohibitive. Without our guy, there wouldn’t be the awesome economy in San Jose during the 1800’s. He’s really the father of California’s wine and fruit industries. The Pellier family still lives in Evergreen today.

Gunless lawman and California statesman, Charles White, came to America in 1833, but his son was a popular orchardist and businessman. These are Charles E. White’s orchards to the right.

John Tully would own and operate many orchards throughout Evergreen, as would H.L. Stevens. From the 1850’s forward, Evergreen would blossom with orchards.

The East Side Fruit Growers Association opened in 1893 off Tully Road and McLaughlin Road, serving as a trade association for local farmers across Evergreen and East San Jose. They would join a larger sales organization in 1899.

Otis B. Whaley would also make our list of well-known, well-liked orchardists of Evergreen. Also having served on the Evergreen Elementary School Board of Trustees for 27 years, he would cultivate his orchards in Evergreen from 1911 until he passed in 1947. The third school opened in the Evergreen School District would be named in his honor in 1963.

When railroads off Monterey Road became popularized in shipping fruit back east, the fruit industry would shift focus downtown towards the rails. The East Side association, like others in the Santa Clara Valley, would be acquired by the Santa Clara County Fruit Exchange, a dried fruit co-op opened in 1892, once known as the California Prune and Apricot Growers Association. The plant was located across the street from Del Monte’s Canning Plant. California Prune and Apricot would become Sunsweet and can here until 1915. The Fruit Exchange wouldn’t disband until 1916 after the plant burnt down while leased.

Popular companies like Sunsweet, Del Monte, Sun Garden and Valley of Hearts Delight, Richmond-Chase, would ship Evergreen fruit, dried and canned, around the world. Railroads and later Reid-Hillview would play major roles in exporting Evergreen’s produce. Santa Clara County as a whole was known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight, but Evergreen owns the copyright as its owners still live in town. The town and community of Evergreen would identify as an agricultural hotspot well into the 1950’s.

I have a personal relationship with Evergreen orchards picking fruit and pumpkins from the Cortese fruit stand and orchards. My mother and I made a habit of getting cherries there that never made it home, being snacked on between stoplights. Vincent Cortese would immigrate from Sicily in 1917, and work in the orchards. Vincent would eventually marry an Italian-American lady, purchase his own farm in Evergreen and raise his family with an orchardist tradition and one of civil leadership. The orchards in Evergreen would give way to Evergreen Valley College, but John Cortese, also a lawyer, maintains orchards today. This is a tradition that still bears fruit today.

My continued affections for orchards existed in the various fruit trees in my own backyard as a kid. A love of blossoms and blooms enchanted my childhood. Pies and jams of all kinds came out of our Evergreen kitchen. Apple sauce is a tradition. Our backyard gave us peaches in the Spring, Plums in the Summer and Apples all Fall and Winter long. Lemons, and therefore lemonade, are in abundance at my house. To say I’m drawing from experience would be an understatement.

Orchards have always been in my life as a native of Evergreen. Below are pieces that have and haven’t made the cut, but all include our redundant theme of orchards.

Evergreen today

March 9, 2016Concept, Historical Researchdemographics, evergreen, modern, san joseevergreen

As Wikipedia describes it, Evergreen is the neighborhood between the borders of Tully Road to the north, 101 to the West, San Felipe Road to the South and the East foothills to the East. The artwork will revolve around the people, events and places within this area. I’m portraying Evergreen overtime. It begs the question, what is Evergreen today?

Evergreen is home to 126,146 documented residents with 34,151 households. I phrase it that way because we have a lot of long-term visitors indoors and outdoors. Evergreen is half as dense, people per square mile, as the rest of San Jose or San Jose as a whole. We’re evenly split between men and women. The average household size is 3.7 people. Average household income in $135,206. To say Evergreen is diverse would be an understatement. It’s a melting pot brimming with different culture.

Our gorgeous suburb has an average age of 37.4 – 40.2 years of age. I know you think of Silicon Valley types raising their kids in Evergreen, but the Villages Retirement Community tucked back into San Felipe Road tremendously evens out our median age. The Villages is home to hundreds of old Evergreen families and pioneers. It leads me to believe the bulk here is under 10 years old and over 70 years old.

68.5% of workers in Evergreen are White Collar workers, many of those folks working in the healthy tech economy of the Silicon Valley. Almost 50% of residents have college and graduate degrees. 80% of residents in Evergreen have some college experience. Needless to say, education is an important aspect of the Evergreen community.

Evergreen Elementary School District and Eastside Union High School District have 18 public schools, 12 of which have a 9-10 rating as noted by GreatSchools Ratings. I’d say that’s an excellent percentage. All these schools have 5 or above rating. Evergreen Community College hosts classes for more than 11,000 students.

Evergreen was named for its oak trees, lush rolling hills and sparkling waterways that have existed here throughout time. Though summer and autumn months bring a golden quality to our hills, open spaces and rural areas survive here in Evergreen as it was once a farming community.

Though the Evergreen Mural Walk is aimed at instilling pride into the Evergreen neighborhood by drawing upon its roots, it is a brilliant pocket of diversity and growth today that we should be proud of.

Ranching – a redundant theme

March 8, 2016Artwork, Concept, Historical Researchevergreen

Evergreen has a lot of singularities within its timeline but there are also some overlap in the stories here. We know, and it will be discussed later, about the Valley of Heart’s Delight and orchards that once existed throughout Evergreen. Winemaking makes an appearance in Evergreen in several places. The lesser known and spoken about tradition of civil service and leadership will be portrayed throughout the artwork. A past, present and continued theme and motif you’ll find throughout the Evergreen community is cattle herding and ranching. This will be portrayed in the Evergreen Mural Walk artwork.

The first cattle herders in Evergreen, and in California, would have been Spanish colonialists and missionaries settling the area. Cows aren’t at all indigenous to California so the Native Americans would’ve been introduced to them at this time. Pueblo de San Jose was established in 1777 in between San Francisco and Monterey naval bases. Expeditions in the late 1760’s into Northern California would’ve necessitated cattle and enough food for the journey. The trip from Monterey to San Jose would’ve passed through Watsonville, Gilroy, Evergreen and into the Santa Clara Valley. This would begin the continued ranching culture in Evergreen.

This tradition would be carried by Antonio Chaboya and family into the Mexican Period. Antonio would be granted Rancho Yerba Buena in 1833. In fact, the Chaboyas held rodeos for young stable hands and farm hands which would foster a great relationship between boss and employee, as well as develop their skills on the ranch. Though the Chaboyas maintained ownership into Statehood, squatters would eventually lay claim to the land saying that the property was extravagant grazing lands and the Chaboyas didn’t need, or have right, to all of it. These allegations having the rights to the “American Dream” would empty their coffers and the Chaboyas would part with Rancho Yerba Buena and maintain smaller homesteads.

One of the Rancho Yerba Buena squatters, John Aborn, having journeyed to America in 1833, would also host rodeos. It would be a safe presumption that he, too, herded cattle in Evergreen.

The rodeos were more than a test of one’s riding skills and bravery. What these rodeos would become in a spread out, rural town like Evergreen were an annual community celebration. These would bring neighbors miles apart together and foster great relationships. The Pueblo would become Downtown San Jose. Large farms would exist outside of town or in other small towns.

Henry W. Coe would move into Evergreen in the 1850’s, purchasing portions of neighboring Rancho los Hechos, which is the Hall’s Valley/Mt. Hamilton foothills area. Henry Coe’s ranch would eventually extend through the Evergreen hills and into Gilroy. The Coe Family and herd would maintain these hills for several generations. Structures in Henry W. Coe Park, lands donated by Sada Coe Robison, were on the far end of the property. The cattle would graze here into the 1950’s. Hewlett and Packard families would buy acres of this pristine, untouched grazing last and preserve it for future generations.

The Kettmann family would move into 2 neighboring Evergreen ranches in the 1870’s, harvesting orchards and grain for the most part. Generations of Kettmann farmers would also work a small vineyard on the property. The large German family also maintain a healthy swath of grazing lands in Mt. Hamilton foothills for their sheep herd. The Kettmanns still own the property til this day. The fluffy herd would travel through town from the Kettmann Ranch, near Evergreen Library, and into the Mt. Hamilton property for generations of ranchers. This set of Kettmann brands were donated to EVC for its collection.

Evergreen Valley College has collected most of the ranching brands from the area for its Heritage Room, found in a side room at the Library Facilities. The Heritage Room was curated by Evergreen Times contributor Colleen Cortese. Evergreen Pioneer families would donate to the museum room. Ranching would be a constant in the Evergreen Valley and hills. Here, they’ve displayed the unique brands from each ranch.

Ranching is a tradition upheld by many old time Evergreen families, like the Richmond and Swenson Families, who maintain cattle ranches today. Why do you think Barry wears the hat?

People needed beef, and especially back in the day. The result today is naturally groomed and overall untouched grasslands all over Evergreen. The fact that the Silicon Valley doesn’t look more like San Francisco is incredible to me. Thanks to our civil leadership and awesome Evergreen business people, Downtown San Jose remains densely populated and Evergreen gets a little elbow room, despite development. We have the most beautiful climate, the most Recession proof economy, and open space. To be born here is a miracle. Happy cows indeed.

Drawing Room Floor

These awesome panels had to make way for more informational or more meaningful pieces. All of the artwork is based on research, so picking the important parts was difficult. Some clips stayed, but this is essentially the drawing room floor.