Tag Archives: schoolhouse

Cadwallader Avenue Bridge

July 12, 2016Artwork, Concept, Historical Researchbridge, cadwallader, cadwallader ave. avenue, cobble, Cottle, creeks, decorative, downtown evergreen, evergreen, Evergreen School, evidence, mystery, remnants, san felipe, schoolhouse, settlers, silver creek, stone, stones, street name, township, women's relief corps, WRCevergreen

Pat Loomis once wrote about Cadwallader Avenue’s driving bridge over Thompson Creek that had been washed away in a flood in January 1893 in her series of Sign Posts published in the San Jose News Newspaper in the 1970’s. Today, we all remember the walking paths connecting these neighborhoods. We rode our bikes over wooden planks and metal rails with lush creek beds beneath us as children. I went poking around in the old Dry Creek looking for remnants of the Cadwallader Avenue bridge because I’d been there recently researching San Felipe Road with Judge Jerry Kettmann. Maybe he assumed I knew about the bridge, but I couldn’t envision a bridge in this “S” curved portion of Dry Creek.

The intersection here at Cadwallader Avenue and San Felipe Road is really ground zero for Evergreen. This was downtown Evergreen. The first residents’ homes still stand near ground zero. Keaton Loop, cuddled up next to Thompson Creek, was once part of San Felipe Road. Cadwallader Avenue, however, once met San Felipe Road before 1893. Here, in the map to the right, you can see the “C” of Cadwallader on top of San Felipe Road as it crosses Dry Creek, known as Thompson Creek today.

Here, the Women’s Relief Corps, Evergreen School house and Evergreen’s first dense home development grew off Cadwallader Aveunue. Mr. Cadwallader is fascinating as well. Though he never would call Evergreen home, he was certainly generous towards the Community of Evergreen. Cadwallader Avenue’s lost bridge was a new revelation along the research. It’s neat now when I learn brand new things about Evergreen. This Cadwallader Community seems so secreted away when it used to be at the heart of everything. It’s certainly the second smallest parcels on the map above, a precursor to what Evergreen would eventually become.

Here, I found deer frolicking. I found sun ripened wild berries. I found really old trees. I found the end of Fowler Creek here now under San Felipe Road and graffiti. There is a foot bridge now. This new bridge is the straightest line down the Avenue itself. Today’s foot crossing is certainly very permanent and wide, but a direct line down which didn’t feel true to my materials. I wouldn’t be too sure that’s all it was or created from what was left of the old crossing.

These sand bags would have been from any number of floods through the 1900’s. Sadly, I wouldn’t expect sandbags or burlap to stand up to 120 years of moisture, deterioration, rainfall and overflow. I could be wrong, though. These would’ve had to be treated with some sort of plastic to have survived this long. These bags protect the creek’s fragile lining at this pipe’s opening. Over saturation would result in things beginning to slip into the creek, like the old bridge did. This area was prone to flooding with a huge events as recent as 1969. I do however see lots of rock, thanks to all the unsightly graffiti highlighting them.

This large, metal pole is so random, and literally in the middle of the way creeks crossing. Its placement is so odd that this must be evidence of some sort. But what? Also, observe all the rock around it. That’s weird too. It caught my eye as we were taking cute photos of me gathering research. I took these in street clothes on a return visit because I just couldn’t stop thinking about this pole sticking out in the middle of the creek bed and that driving bridge.

Come to think of it, I was jumping over rocks taking those pictures that day; so much so, I forwent the heels on rocks concept because it was unsafe. It felt like Cottle’s Cobble Stone all over again, starring me right in the face. This pole would support a cobble stone bridge like the one my imagination conjured up. Cadwallader Avenue began with a slight bend, when today’s Cadwallader Avenue crossing is flush with the avenue’s direction, as it reaches Keaton Loop. What would convince me absolutely that this was the collapsed bridge? Another support pole or more cobble stone would prove it to me.

Done and done.

Sadly, the second pole I found also epitomizes the great need for the Evergreen Mural Walk. The general public doesn’t know the history of Evergreen and therefore doesn’t respect the land. It’s so sad to see the vandalism and destruction on school campuses and private properly. It’s a dang shame, but okay. Second pole, in the right place to support the San Felipe Road side of the bridge. Check.

Then as I was leaving, I stopped to admire some giant hundreds year old oaks and enormous 150+ year old eucalyptus trees when I noticed this congregation of rocks. This would’ve outlined San Felipe Road, now Keaton Loop, and protect horses and vehicles from running too close to the creeks’ edge, which often flooded in the early days. This cobble stone also though lines portions of San Felipe Road in from of L. C. Smith’s historic residence and several Cadwallader Avenue properties in the same pattern. This was a connected network of well traveled streets in the heart of Evergreen as one point. This bridge’s significance was bringing South Silver Creek to Downtown Evergreen and further connecting it with Norwood neighborhood and San Felipe Valley. Nearby Fowler Road would’ve also been a popular turn for the interior of Evergreen, as would Quimby Road.

This cobble stone street lining would end where a pump station currently sits, accommodating the flows of the creeks so as not to flood Evergreen. It is my belief this structure, not the current foot path from today’s Cadwallader Avenue, takes advantage of the previous Cadwallader Avenue bridge’s construction. Or at least near the opening of the bridge on the southeast corner of the three way crossing with San Felipe Road.

Jerry Kettmann would explain to me that patrons of his uncle’s bar on San Felipe Road would kiss under the bridge. That makes a lot more sense if the bridge in within view and reach of the watering hole. Down in the creek bed would’ve been a perfect place to hideaway and canoodle.

The sandbags I found are probably a precaution from the bridge having been swept away and ongoing flooding. Cobble Stone is definitely a thing in Evergreen, then and now. It’s too heavy to really haul away and its so quaint. Why bother? I am so glad I took a second look at this crossing. It was really starting to bother me.

Haunted Evergreen

June 17, 2016Historical Researchbarns, Chaboya, don pedro chaboya, evergreen, evergreen schoolhouse, ghosts, haunted, haunting, HL Stephens, metcalf road, mill, millbrook, quimby creek, san felipe, san felipe road, schoolhouse, Smith Family, spirits, stephens, stevens laneevergreen

When asking friends what they want to know about Evergreen, they wanted to know about old haunted places around town. When I started looking, I found lots of haunting in Evergreen. Whether it had been a tragic event on a campus or a scary old house, Evergreen has plenty of scary stories to accompany its beautiful tales. Here’s what I found out and investigated myself.

First of all, I should say I have a fair amount of physical, experiential research on this topic. When we were kids, and my older brother’s friend got the first license in the bunch, we did this. I found kids still doing this and chronicling it on youtube. Ghost hunting in Evergreen is a teenage rite of passage that is alive and well. Let’s talk about some of the ghostbusting.

San Felipe Road appears to have the concentration of spirits in Evergreen. I’ll explain what the sensation is and then why. I would do my own paranormal investigation, with buddies, in high school 1999-2003 when we didn’t care who’s house it was and we didn’t know why we felt strange things in certain places. The first time, we ended up at the Smith’s residences thinking it was the school house. Back then, too, many of the new homes weren’t there yet and this stretch of road was fairly heavily wooded along Thompson Creek. The Smith family homes are still privated by orange groves today. It once looked like this with San Felipe Road running through these front yards today.

That connection is Katherine Smith and the school house is across the street from her house. These Victorian houses are occupied today, so don’t sneak up at night, okay? What everyone thought was the haunted schoolhouse back in the day was not. It’s the right spot, but across the street, renovated some time ago and totally not haunted. The two story schoolhouse still stands, and is also inhibited. The old one story school was torn down in the 1890’s. Reports from San Felipe Road long time residents would also confirm the absences of a haunted schoolhouse, and the lack of any known massacres, murders or suicides that result in spirits. We, Evergreenians, do, however, have an unusual number of haunted school rumors, just none on San Felipe Road. Unfortunately, I won’t be disclosing them here either, because students still attend school there today.

The looking haunted house on White Road and Stevens Lane isn’t haunted. I would be too chicken to Treat or Treat here as a child, though I can see its jagged oak tree from my own backyard. I’ve come to find that it is owned by the nicest, long time Evergreen family. Again, don’t sneak up on these guys – there are no paranormal activities here. The family purchased it generations ago directly from H. L. Stephens, its original owner, orchardist and flour mill operator. The mill would be near Millbrook School today on Quimby Creek. Again, not haunted. Very original in its construction and preservation, very discrete owners, spooky oak tree and daunting gate. What you don’t get to see if the stunning wisteria and wrap around porch. The only spirits here are warm and friendly.

Headed south on San Felipe, beyond Farnsworth, the road gets scary and dark. It’s a beautiful daytime bike ride, not for novice riders, but a nighttime fright. You will see old, rundown barns appear out of black oak trees and abyss. This can seems scary. Your cell reception will drop at the top of the hill. Don’t worry. Evergreen’s reception in general is spotty, but especially toward Metcalf Road. You can either turn around or go straight until you hit Highway 101 or Monterey Road. The only need to worry is if your car breaks down. There are too many reports of phantom cars and haunting along the roadway itself, so maybe we should spend a moment on that.

Historian’s note: Keep in mind that the invention of the printing press and its rapid improvement through the 1800’s means tragedies and crime would be recorded in newspapers at the very least. These have not been streaming in from Evergreen or San Felipe Road or San Jose. I’ve looked everywhere I can thing of. I’m obsessed, too. I can track every local news article, person, property development, purchase, division, dispute, etc. Evergreen was downright peaceful after land disputes.

Though no haunted schoolhouse exists there, San Felipe Road may in fact be haunted. Plenty of car accidents occur here every year, whether ordinary or foolhardy. The haunting I like to speculate about is much older. San Felipe Road itself can be dated back 200 years.

Don Pedro Chaboya, Antonio Chaboya’s brother, would drive a band of cattle ranchers from Santa Clara and Monterey Ranchos after Native American horse bandits and most likely took the trip over San Felipe Road, furthest East and most central to the gang of ranchers. The thieves would steal 600 head of horses, slaughter some of the animals senselessly and take flight towards Merced County. The Bay Area ranchers would finally catch up with the bandits in Tehachapi, so probably not Ohlone Natives. Laguna Tachi, where the capture occurred, here shown to the left, is on the border of Tulare County, Southern California. The ranchers would return home with their horses and captured thieves. I speculate this southeastern route is haunted because of the horses and natives who lost their lives in this event. As a result, phantom cars can be felt. Not phantom cars – phantom horses. People also report hands appearing on the windshield while driving down San Felipe Road. That’s probably our Native Americans being brought back for their punishment.

Or there’s a totally logical explanation. Something like the coastal winds combining with low pressure systems to the South driving a wind Northward. If you catch a gust of wind, could feel like phantom cars or horses. If you can’t see the trees also fluctuating with the headwind, you’d be psychologically misguided and therefore spooked. Your hands I can’t explain away. This may be strong contrasts in heat in very specific places on your windshield from such a strong, cold headwind so sporadic in occurrence.

Also on San Felipe Road but further towards Metcalf Road, you can get another scare. If you didn’t know these awesome rusted pieces of antique farming equipment was out here, you might be frightened by their sight and traveling shadows. With the lights on, or rather in the daytime, this old pieces of equipment are brilliant relics and roadway decorations. At night, this looks like a creepy crawly nightmare. Now, it your car won’t start for some reason on San Felipe Road, then you’re in trouble.

When I was a kid, there were so many more barns and abandoned structures. I say kid. About 15-20 years ago. I’ve been on this ride several times throughout the research of this project. Things I intimately remember creeping into at night and being spooked by are gone. They’re not there. These structures have been documented, torn down and made room for more homes. I find them again in archives and records.

Somewhere we would enjoy screams before it was enveloped by home development is a place others also report as having been haunted. I can’t find much of this online, but the experiential data yielded positive results. I know I was spooked enough once or twice to bolt out of there. Today, it’s a historical landmark that needs some love. Reminds me of the Wehner Mansion, also with historic designation but no preservation. (There were no reports of spirits from Wehner Mansion except wine.) This is how I remembered the relic.

Today, the Metzger Barn still gets haunting reports but serves a dual purpose as a quasi-park. Though secreted away, it’s open to the public. The complex even has picnic tables and a volleyball court. At night, there are reports of phantom rattling chains and ghostly crying observed. I’ve also read about an experience with hanging animals from the rafters. I’ve personally observed the heeby geebies. I’ll not spoil this haunted tale for you. Since I’ve ruined other perfectly good ghost stories, I won’t ruin anymore for you.

Joseph D. Grant Park, very nearby Evergreen in neighboring Ranch Canada de la Pala, has a historical complex of structures and gives tours of the haunted main house. If you want a frightful experience, you’ll have to sweet talk rangers or historians into coming back to work on their time off but it’s been done before. Built in 1882, ghosts can be witnessed in mirrors, along with loud noises and footsteps were observed. Other strange paranormal feelings would be reported by guests and park rangers alike. Ghost hunters have enough evidence to confirm their own superstitions.

Evergreen has haunts you can see and some you can pass up on. Metzger Farm and Joseph Grant Park seem to be your best bet for spirits. A night drive over San Felipe Road and a misadventure up Las Animas Road are certainly spooky if that’s your thing.

The Man with a Hoe

June 16, 2016Historical Researchaborn, Chaboya, downtown evergreen, educator, Edwin Markham, evergreen, evergreen people, Evergreen School, farmers, farming, K.R. Smith, kettmann, literature, Markham, poet, poetry, schoolhouse, Smith Family, teacherevergreen

Charles Edward Anson

Markham (1852-1940) is characterized as a minor American poet. Since he has Evergreen roots, we’ll designate him a major Evergreen poet. Edwin Markham was a teacher at the Evergreen Schoolhouse from 1869-1889. During those twenty years, he would write from the East Foothills and inspire and educate students from the Chaboya family, Kettmann family, Smith Family, certainly one day principal and superintendent, Katie R. Smith, Aborn Family , Chew Family and others. He was so cherished by the community, a redwood tree would be planted in his honor.

Though not published until 1899, ten years after Edwin Markham left the employment of the Evergreen School, I like to speculate about his inspirations. The Oregon native wrote poetry about the working class life in the late 1800’s. He would’ve worked on the family farm as a child, like most children at the time, in the north bay area. He would finish his teaching credential at San Jose State, then known as the Normal School, and fall in love with Evergreen. From 1921-1931, Edwin Markham would be Poet Laureate of Oregon.

Edwin Markham incites emotion through his metaphors and that familiar sense of earning. It is often said that Markham’s “The Man with the Hoe” was inspired by Jean-Francios Millet’s painting of the same subject, shown here to the left. That may have been a contemporary pop culture influence, however, Markham would get to see this activity quite regularly during his twenty year teaching stint in the town of Evergreen.

I have specific details about the farm adjacent to the schoolhouse using hoes, pitchforks and sickles, archaic equipment the immigrant family would’ve used in the old country. The farmers in Evergreen during this time would have front row seats to the Industrial Revolution and watch their equipment mechanize before their own eyes. Poorer farmers would have to work by hand until Evergreen’s labor force combined and circulated large rigs to harvest everyone’s fields.

Markham’s poetry would very much parallel the hardworking farmer’s plight during this time in history. Evergreen was farm country, first appearing in the Altas in 1867. Markham would move into Evergreen in 1869, as one time squatters became legal land owners and brand new farms were being raised all over town. It would be harder to imagine Markham’s work not being inspired by his time in the little farming town 8 miles outside the City.

Here’s Markham’s poem. If you enjoy this, read on. His poetry is quite lovely.

The Man with the Hoe

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans 
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, 
The emptiness of ages in his face, 
And on his back the burden of the world. 
Who made him dead to rapture and despair, 
A thing that grieves not and that never hopes. 
Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox? 
Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw? 
Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow? 
Whose breath blew out the light within this brain? 
Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave 
To have dominion over sea and land; 
To trace the stars and search the heavens for power; 
To feel the passion of Eternity? 
Is this the Dream He dreamed who shaped the suns 
And marked their ways upon the ancient deep? 
Down all the stretch of Hell to its last gulf 
There is no shape more terrible than this — 
More tongued with censure of the world’s blind greed — 
More filled with signs and portents for the soul — 
More fraught with menace to the universe. 
What gulfs between him and the seraphim! 
Slave of the wheel of labor, what to him 
Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades? 
What the long reaches of the peaks of song, 
The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose? 
Through this dread shape the suffering ages look; 
Time’s tragedy is in the aching stoop; 
Through this dread shape humanity betrayed, 
Plundered, profaned, and disinherited, 
Cries protest to the Powers that made the world. 
A protest that is also a prophecy. 
O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, 
Is this the handiwork you give to God, 
This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched? 
How will you ever straighten up this shape; 
Touch it again with immortality; 
Give back the upward looking and the light; 
Rebuild in it the music and the dream, 
Make right the immemorial infamies, 
Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes? 
O masters, lords and rulers in all lands 
How will the Future reckon with this Man? 
How answer his brute question in that hour 
When whirlwinds of rebellion shake all shores? 
How will it be with kingdoms and with kings — 
With those who shaped him to the thing he is — 
When this dumb Terror shall rise to judge the world. 
After the silence of the centuries?

Nirum Cadwallader – Evergreen’s generous Mining Tycoon

June 11, 2016Artwork, Historical Researchbusiness, cadwallader, Cadwallader Avenue, california, downtown evergreen, family, generations, Gold Rush, invention, inventor, mining, namesake, nirum, Pat Loomis, patent, quicksilver, school, schoolhouse, Sign Posts, street name, vacation, women's relief corps, WRCevergreen

Nirum’s an awesome name, as is Cadwallader. For the purposes of my research, I much prefer it to Smith, Stevens, Jones or John. However, when looking into Mr. Cadwallader, he occurs all over the map. The fabulous women of History San Jose pulled it all together for me. I’m always looking for a portrait on my Evergreen individuals. This one happens to be in print, not a photograph.

Mr. Nirum Cadwallader, for whom the school is named, as previously discussed donated the lands to both the Evergreen Schoolhouse at the corner of San Felipe and Evergreen Roads in 1860 and to the Women’s Relief Corps in 1887, located on Cadwallader Avenue. The WRC is probably one of these subdivision plots. By my estimation of the 5 acres donated, I think it’s probably 34 or 57. Those are the only ones bigger enough and “on” Cadwallader. At the time, Cadwallader Avenue started at San Felipe Road. Now, there are only foot bridges connecting Cadwallader to Keaton Loop, formerly San Felipe Road. We’ll discuss this in further detail later. No doubt, Mr. Cadwallader helped shape Evergreen as we know it.

The earliest records of Mr. Nirum Cadwallader appear from Birchville, California, because that’s where he initially struck it rich. Originally from Ohio, Nirum Cadwallader would be apart of the Gold Rush of 1849. In an illustrated version of Popular Science in 1866 would bring attention to Mr. Cadwallader’s patent on a technique of compressing air in dynamic to create larger blasts.

Nirum Cadwallader (1833-1890) was the great grandson of Ohio’s Seneca County’s Hopewell Township’s first settler, Nathan Cadwallader. Nirum’s father Samuel Cadwallader and wife Mary would raise 7 children, of which Nirum was the eldest. He would’ve been sixteen as he would’ve heard the news of gold from California. As a young man, Cadwallader would work his way up the chain at the Milton Mining Company, surely getting the necessary experience that took him to his future heights. The Cadwallader family name is quite popular there in Ohio and along the east coast, also spelt Cadwalader. It and the family originate from Wales, being a descriptive term for the Welsh people. The family’s lineage can be traced back to a Welsh King. Chances are the Cadwalladers were well off in Ohio. There are a long line of Cadwallader inventors preceding and succeeding him. The first Cadwalladers would leave England in 1640, arriving in Virginia, and slowly migrating west from there.

As a young man, Cadwallader would work his way up the chain at the Milton Mining Company, surely getting the experience that took him to his future heights. However established, Nirum Cadwallader would break out from Milton and arrive in California in 1855, at the age of 22. Nirum would become a prolific businessman, acquiring stocks and equity in numerous mining, telephone, water and utility companies in Nevada County, California. He was a very rich and well-respected man quickly after coming to California. Mr. Cadwallader would be married twice, but his first wife passed away while he still lived in Birchville. I couldn’t find any records of the first marriage or the children they might have had. After returning home, no doubt to grieve, Nirum would marry the much younger Emma J. Hart (1847-1930) also from Ohio, having 3 children together. Nirum Cadwallader would own 160 acres in Ohio as shown to the left in this 1874 Atlas. Samuel, his father, would live with Nirum for part of the year, probably during Ohio’s colder months.

If you’re mining for gold in Nevada County, California, you would need quicksilver to obtain pure gold and remove other elements from the compound. If you’re a forward thinking man with mining interests and better mining techniques like Mr. Cadwallader, you might look for some quicksilver mines of your own. This is what probably brought Mr. and Mrs. Cadwallader to San Jose for good in 1881. Although it is unclear whether or not he had any part of the Silver Creek Mines before their flooding and abandonment, Nirum Cadwallader would purchase land in the heart of Evergreen in the 1860’s, though they never lived there. This was a second property to vacation from their downtown home, which was located off of the Alameda, in the heart of Downtown San Jose. It’s been torn down. When Cadwallader donated the land because he hadn’t built on it, he made a huge impact on the Community of Evergreen. Mr. Nirum Cadwallader has been rumored to be a very generous man throughout his life.

In 1888, Birchville’s mining industry would dry up as the mines were picked clean. The population of Nevada County quickly shrank. Forward thinking Mr. Cadwallader had already set up shop elsewhere. His patent made him rich, as did his business ownings. Mr. Cadwallader died in 1890, a year after the WRC opened. Mrs. Emma Cadwallade, the widow, would deed a park in his honor. The small park still exists between 1st and 2nd Streets at Keyes Street. It is the cutest wedge of land with palm trees. This crossroads would dictate the direction you were heading before highways were built. Monterey Road was the closest thing to a highway, also being a portion of the El Camino Real. First Street heading North lead you Santa Clara and then the Alameda which turns to the El Camino Real to San Francisco. Heading down Second Street took you towards Oakland via Oakland Road from Thirteenth Street.

In donating the property to the Women’s Relief Corps in December 1887, constructed in 1889, a ceremony was held to commemorate the occasion in Evergreen on April 6, 1889. The WRC took a year and a half to build on Cadwallader Avenue. A mile long precession and banquet hosted by “ladies of Evergreen”, notable ladies like Mrs. E. J. Smith, Mrs. J. J. Jones, Miss Fowler, and Miss McClay. The occasion was celebrated with Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Cunningham, Mr. and Mrs. Lantz (neighbors nearby the WRC), Miss Minnie Keliher and the Chew Family. It was said that Mr. Cadwallader held the event to show off his beautiful wife from Ohio. She later remarried Mr. Taylor in 1910, twenty years later.

Mr. Nirum Cadwallader’s Evergreen property turned into one of the first densely built home developments in the downtown of Evergreen. It was all located around Cadwallader Avenue, named in his honor. Close by Cadwallader Subdivision were the Smith properties and General Store, Andy Kettmann’s Saloon and the Schoolhouse. When the town grew, it did so because people enjoyed having neighbors and countryside in the places like the Cadwallader Subdivision shown to the right. If you worked these farms nearby, you probably couldn’t afford lots of acres of your own. Plus, you were too busy to ever profit off of the land or tend to it yourself. Evergreen’s farming industry took the whole village to harvest. Evergreen School Sessions would sync with the harvest season, because the kids would be home working as well.

Patricia Loomis discussed the WRC’s opening with first person resources in her article “Cadwallader Ave. Has Had Problems” in her ‘Sign Posts’ series, revisiting historic events in San Jose’s history for the San Jose News in October 17, 1975. What I hadn’t realized before I found Patricia Loomis’s Sign Post was that Cadwallader Avenue went through to San Felipe. The road bridge would be washed out in 1893 after heavy rains. At the time, Cadwallader crossed Thompson Creek, formerly known as Dry Creek because it ran dry in summer months. The wash out surely as something to do with the redirecting of San Felipe Road. It’s never been replaced.

Evergreen School House Rocks

May 26, 2016Artwork, Historical ResearchChaboya, downtown evergreen, education, evergreen, evergreen people, family, Founders, generations, Katherine, kettmann, KR Smith, original building, school, schoolhouse, smith, superintendent, teacher, township, woman, womenevergreen

The Evergreen Schoolhouse opened in 1860. There were enough Chaboyas, both European and American homesteaders and rancheros families to open up a school in Rancho Yerba Buena. It would be incorporated into the Santa Clara County Education system in 1866 as the township became more established.

Famed author Edwin Markham (1852-1940) would come to Evergreen Schoolhouse to teach in its early days after attending San Jose State University. Teaching in Evergreen from 1969-89, he would recall the days of a single story school house, replaced by a larger two-story one. A nearby redwood tree was planted in his honor after teaching there for twenty years, which I intend to find if it’s still around. The Redwood would be over 100 years old now. It is said the Evergreen helps inspire some of Markham’s work. The commemorative redwood tree also might be the inspiration of the Evergreen trees in the School District’s logo.

In general, the School’s schedule would sync up with the fruit picking seasons and operate 10 months a year. They insisted on keeping the school free to the public and secular from its inception. My old time interviewees would recall the school house at the corner or San Felipe/White Road and Aborn Road, then Evergreen Road. That may seem odd now, but it would’ve been located there the shopping center and Valero gas station stands today. The land was donated by Mr. Nirum Cadwallader, who also donated the same amount of land to the WCR some years later, and upheld the donation by William Matthews in the transaction to Geo. Kettmann. Education has been something Evergreen residents have felt strongly about since the town began. The Schoolhouse had been there on Evergreen Road, now Aborn, since the 1860. I think it’s so cool that today’s well-known creek crossings would’ve been somebody else’s path to school 150 years ago.

Katherine R. Smith (1870-1973), daughter of town leader and postmaster Francis J. Smith, would come back to Evergreen schoolhouse after being one of the first women to graduate from San Jose State University and teach down the street from her house. The school house would remain there for a long time. Katie is huge part of Evergreen History.

The two-story school house would be moved by rolling it over logs down the street on San Felipe Road and Yerba Buena Ave. during the 1950’s. This is when San Felipe would’ve changed directions and Keaton Loop created. Post World War and new City Planning developing in effect, Evergreen’s update began with this major move. It also helps explain why this view of the Smith homes feels incorrect. From the drawing, the road now runs between the houses and business, and this driveway between them is essentially Yerba Buena Avenue. Directly next to this road would’ve been Dry Creek, now known as Thompson Creek. The Schoolhouse would come to stand where the General Store and Winery are.

That’s right, the schoolhouse moved across the street from Katherine’s House. How rad is that? Katherine, Katie, would become Superintendent of the Evergreen Elementary School District, watch the school outgrow this two-story facility and move to Fowler Road before expanding with new schools. The Evergreen School is where Evergreen Elementary School is today. Katie would live to be 103 years old and known as the Daughter of Evergreen. As a staple of the Evergreen Community and a beloved educator, it only seems appropriate to name Evergreen’s second school in her honor in 1962.

This two-story school house still stands today, or at least that’s what I had heard from fellow Evergreenians. I did some digging. I found what stands where the schoolhouse was last seen. There is this odd, adobe looking, older apartment building, called the Chaboya Apartments, standing there now at the intersection of San Felipe Road and Yerba Buena Avenue.

What I was not understanding or seeing before was that the Evergreen Schoolhouse does still stand, but with the addition to the original building disguising it. I took a closer look at what was there and found the Schoolhouse I was looking for hidden in plain sight! I find it here farthest to the right in the picture to the right. It would be naturally to extend evenly in each direction, but you’re pretty limited in repurposing a building with a creek in your backyard. To say it’s gotten some body work would be an understatement, but that’s it with the stairs leading up to it. Only the front got the more modern adobe facelift.

It’s an incredible finding as the Evergreen Elementary School District is an ally of The Evergreen Mural Walk project, as well as a source of its inspiration. Education is something we’d like to focus on here in Evergreen and that strength came from within in many instances. Katie is one of those inner strengths. The students still living having used this facility are still a connected family here in Evergreen. Here’s some of the artwork inspired by the early days of the Evergreen Elementary School District.