Tag Archives: township

Cadwallader Avenue Bridge

IMG_0007signpostPat 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.

P1310185 (2)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.

IMG_0021Here, 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.

IMG_0018These 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.

IMG_0013This 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.

P1100123 (2)1850 - bridgeCome 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.

IMG_0020Done 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.

IMG_0015Then 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.

IMG_0022This 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.

 

 

Have you hugged an Oak today?

Deer Valley - Joseph D. Grant County ParkP1310568When you think of “evergreen” and trees in general, chances are you would think of Christmas trees or redwoods.  Evergreen’s trees are not this connotation of evergreen.  In our dear Evergreen, this couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact, our indigenous trees would inspire the name of the township, the communities surrounding it and many of its public schools today and not of them are coniferous.  The natural beauties of Evergreen would inspire poets and artists throughout its history.  These trees too are evergreen but the kind we generally think of.

P1310885image001Misnomer: Evergreen School District’s old logo may be Evergreen trees, but that might have come from the commemorative redwoods planted for the Evergreen School’s first teachers, like Markham and KR Smith.  Evergreen was named for its lush, green hills covered in oak trees.  I think if the name Oakland wasn’t taken in California, Evergreen might have been called Oakland.  It’s all rich oaky grasslands with natural creeks which made hills green year round before farming irrigation.

P13105995986045244_160c2c7376_oEvergreen definitely has some gigantic, wicked oak trees today in the oddest places amongst modern homes and along every creek, of which we have many.  There are different species of oak trees around Evergreen.  The oak grove along the Quimby Creek would give the name to Quimby Oak Middle School, built in 1968.  It was built before Millbrook Elementary, built in 1985, which was named after a mill along this brook some 150 years old.  Millbrook was built on the property owned by Henry Lambert Stephens, Evergreen pioneer since 1866.  In fact, There’s a haunting oak tree in front of the former mill owner’s house today.  Don’t worry.  I’ll get you a better photo.  This oak grove made way for houses and orchards.  Quimby Oak Middle School is more likely the Victoria Chaboya property, not Mayor J. A. Quimby’s.  He would’ve lived above Ruby Avenue.

CAM11117The Honorable Judge Jerry Kettmann would show me oak trees in Evergreen that were over 200 years old.  These would’ve been well grown in before the Judge would tend the Kettmann Family Ranch.  These oak trees served the purpose of landmarks, deciphering the locations along the Kettmann ranch in a developed neighborhood of Evergreen.  The neighborhood grew up around Kettmann Ranch in surrounding Cadwallader and Smith Subdivisions.  This was once a large farm, actually two adjoined farms, in Downtown Evergreen.  The town of Evergreen must have looked very different back then.  These space oaks would be unchanged relics of a time before ours.

Silver%20OakEvergreen MoonSilver Oak Elementary School, built in 1994, was named for a particular tree that was silver in color up on the hill above the school in the 1990’s.  The discoloration ended up being an illness this picturesque oak would come down with.  Silver Creek Country Club removed the tree because it wouldn’t continue to be safe with the moving of earth around it that home building required.  Never underestimate the beauty of a single, stand alone oak, though.  This is such a common theme in photography from our community.  The motif continues to inspire people today.

P1310608P1310620Holly Oak Elementary School would be named for the trees found along Dry Creek, renamed Thomspon Creek in 1974.  Hollies wouldn’t grow all over Evergreen.  There’s also a Coastal Live Oak species, which looks more similar to holly, that grows along that creek specifically.  I’ve enjoyed many a bike ride through this area and have gotten scratched.  There’s also a shrub species, Heteromeles, which is also knicknamed  California Holly that I certain recognize around Evergreen.  Maybe these two tag teamed the Thompson Creek creating a Holly Oak grove.  Or it’s something completely different.  Holly would also have another meaning like Hollywood.  Holly would mean magical.  Either these were magical oaks or these were holly-like oaks.  John Aborn would’ve pioneered this neighborhood and raised his daughter here, advocating for the rights of homesteaders and a defendant of Chaboyas.

P1300673The varieties of oaks themselves are evergreen, so it’s only natural so the name is only natural.  Evergreen hosts a number of species.  “Blue Oak” Natural Reserve is tucked away beyond Joseph Grant Park to observe one of our species.  Valley Oak with distinctive leaves would prefer lower elevations of Evergreen.  Creeks and natural springs kept grass alive on the hillsides year round.  Chaboya’s cattle ranching business wouldn’t have changed a lot of Evergreen’s landscape.  With so many green trees, and rolling grasslands, the place begged the name.  The word “evergreen” simply meant green all year round.  In fact, Antonio Chaboya would mark Rancho Yerba Buena boundaries using cattle brand and the oak trees.

1421300_242476552761125_6880580855870102685_oMap 006, San Jose, Evergreen, Silver Creek, Mount Pleasant, PalThe Norwood neighborhood would get its name from Northern woods in the township of Evergreen.  The map to the left predates the avenue, however the avenue exists along this Green border.  It’s no coincidence.  The Norwood and Quimby Creeks would keep this area heavily wooded, and that element can still be felt there today.  This hillside would’ve been cleared for orchards or vineyards in the mid 1800’s.  I’ve gone on many drives to connect with Evergreen, one of them through this neighborhood, and our oak groves are a continued point of inspiration.

Calocedrus_decurrens_PAN_2hb896nb4gd-FID3Cedar Grove Elementary was named for a natural grove of cedar trees.  California Cedar, or Incense Cedar, could have been indigenous to Evergreen and this Northern wooded area.  That’s this one on the right.  This coniferous cedar grove would’ve been a part of this larger forest known as Norwood.  If it’s indigenous, it was a natural boundary for cattle herding and for the Ranch of Yerba Buena, you can see it on the Chaboya map.

Screen Shot 2015-10-27 at 4.01.24 PMCedars could’ve been planted along San Felipe Road to provide shade through this area when Spanish settlers founded Mission San Jose in 1797 and possible when Mission Santa Clara was founded in 1777.   You can see them on the San Felipe route in the old map here and ought to be this area with doubled up trees.  Cedar Grove may have been planted as early as 1821 by the Chaboya family to reinforce the border between Yerba Buena and neighboring ranchos or pueblo lands that eventually turned into East San Jose.  In the 1800’s, this would have been a popular source of lumber for building.  Norwood Avenue would be established between 1876 and 1899.

1876 MapJ.E. Brown, Theodore Lenzen Residence, Geo. H. Briggs, J.E. RucCedar Grove Elementary appears to be located in this John Tully property, once jointly owned in partnership with Wallace engaged in the lumber business in 1876 found at the top corner of this map.  It’s quite possible the Tully & Wallace company cut the grove down, build their homes and made way for orchards fed by the natural creek nearby.  These are cedars seen is Alfred Chew’s front yard.

118206-004-C50E9F7BHowever, looking at all the varieties of cedar trees to find the origin of Cedar Grove’s name, there’s cedar all around us in Evergreen.  I never realized how often it pops up now that I know the difference.  I think this is a cedar in my own front yard.  Seen here to the left, this cedar tree is a staple of Evergreen today.   Cedrela or Cigar Box Cedar species is all over the Evergreen Community today as a decorative tree, especially this neighborhood surrounding the school.  This species was native to Mexico, so it is not beyond the realm of imagination that these trees came with the Mexican or Spanish Empires.  They’re drought resistant so they’re widely used in landscaping today.

P131069617265953-Laurel-wreath-Decorative-element-at-engraving-style--Stock-VectorLaurelwood Elementary School would be named after a natural bed of Laurel trees. Coastal Bay Laurel, Umbellularia californica, would be prevalent in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but huge laurel groves would cover this area too thousands of years ago.  A climate change would shift that evolution and laurels would recede and make way for our oak groves.  This event took place all over the world in laurel forests in Mediterranean and subtropical climates.  Laurels are most notably the leafy thing behind the ears of many Greek and Roman statues.  I hadn’t realized laurel trees and the avocado were relative plants.  If a wood or forest of laurels existed in Evergreen in the 1800’s, it would certainly be notable.  Today, laurel shrubs and trees can be found on the school’s campus.  Some of these shrubs around Thompson Creek behind the school would appear to be flowering, blossoming laurel bushes.

197812780Beyond that, trees and varieties continue to inspire the naming of streets and neighborhoods.  “Glen” and “dale” all refer to clusters of trees.  That’s right.  Willow Glen was named for a cluster of Willow trees, also a township founded approximately the same time as Evergreen.  Evergreen was named for its out of world beauty and would draw tourists to its trees.  The Creeks created these groves, but would later empty into the orchards’ and farms’ irrigation systems.  Before that, Lake Cunningham, then Silver Lake, would flood into creek beds.  This would continue to be a problem for the Evergreen Township, but a win fall for the trees.  If you’re ever curious about the name “Evergreen”, just take a drive through the hills.  You’ll get lost in the natural wonder in your backyard.  To say our roots are Evergreen is an understatement.

Evergreen postcard graffiti evergreen

5985404833_eb2e904b36_bRecommended Routes for unspoiled beauty:

Silver Creek Valley Road, park at the shopping center and take a little walk.

San Felipe Road, make a right on Silver Creek Road, notice the awesome Silver Creek and its wicked silvery oaks

Follow Quimby Road until its windy, it quickly becomes stunning and natural

From Murrillo Avenue, make a right onto Chaboya Road, the Sikh Temple is beautiful but just beyond are rustic barns shaded by hundreds year old oaks

Follow Tully Road until its windy, it quickly becomes stunning and natural with excellent farms and oak land to see

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Evergreen – A Vacation Destination?

1876 MapPart of the joy in this project has been trying to imagine Evergreen of yesteryear.  How I’ve initially ingested the information is through the visuals which develop throughout time.  The Pueblo de San Jose was established in 1777 as the first secular settlement in California’s infancy.  Small towns and communities would grow up around the city in order to feed and sustain it.  Evergreen was certainly one of these communities, with its first recorded landowners being the Chaboyas in 1821.

Screen Shot 2015-11-02 at 6.06.18 PMScreen Shot 2015-11-02 at 5.59.57 PMThe Chaboyas were cattle ranchers and orchardists.  This means much of the area was untouched in years that the cattle didn’t graze across certain acres.  Grazing in general is a natural grass mowing.  The land itself was scenic, beautiful hillsides drenched in trees and creeks in the 1800’s.  It was described at 8 miles outside of the Pueblo.

IMG_4183The relationship early landowners had with Evergreen into the 1850’s was very different than what we think of it today.  If you were a wealthy farmer, you had a house Downtown – or rather in the City of San Jose – and a vacation or second home in the town of Evergreen.  The Pueblo’s plots were close together and very similar to how it looks and feels today.  Victorian homes can be traced back to their original owners or builders.  The City spread from an epicenter at First Street and Santa Clara Street, being named after the Mission of Santa Clara founded in 1776.

1997300231This was certainly true of the Tullys, Quimbys, and Cadwalladers.  Shown here are the super trendy Tullys, Rose and John.  The Pelliers would own downtown then purchase one of Evergreen’s largest ranches off Quimby Road and Norwood Avenue.  Wealthy landowners would have large homes in Evergreen and a pueblo plot, or small lot, in the City.  John J. Montgomery would come to fly from Evergreen’s pastoral hillsides while teaching at Santa Clara University.  This was a several hour ride on horseback to the town Evergreen in the day, with limited roadways and no highways, at the time.

a 1945 - ApricotsPeople from elsewhere would travel to Evergreen for a slower paced lifestyle, as well as to tend their lucrative farms.  Farmhands would stay on site and the owners would travel back and forth to their downtown stores and homes.  Evergreen’s farming community and nature would also bring tourism to a young Evergreen Village.  If you were visiting San Jose, you had to make the drive.

CAM10475Quick history lesson, Gutenberg’s printing press would be invented in 1444 AD.  Throughout the 1800’s the printing press would rapidly improve.  The rotary press would be developed in 1843, while the Chaboyas owned Rancho Yerba Buena.  Off-set printing would come around in 1875, when the town of Evergreen was a farming haven.  Hot metal typsetting would be invented in 1884, around the time James Lick Observatory was built and William Wehner’s Mansion was constructed.  Books and publications could be created and distributed much quicker and for less.

197812780Evergreen being popularized by books and newspapers, hiking groups would come to experience eucalyptus trees imported from Australia, giant oaks, scenic hillsides and natural creek life.  Evergreen would come to light through its fruit exports and famed residents.

images7Truth is beyond the suburban developments in Evergreen, there are still vacation spots with stunning vistas and hiking destinations.  Evergreen is still at the City’s edge and full of rural beauties, if you know where to look.

P1300662Also, there are still wealthy families who consider Evergreen their vacation destination.  These large ranches end up being a link to the past traditions of their families and our Evergreen.

 

Evergreen School House Rocks

image001 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.

markhamFamed 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.

P1310885In 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.

165) Kathrine Smithls1Katherine 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.

Charles C. Smith, F.J. Smith Store and Residence, Adam Herman,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.

P1310652That’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.

P1310650This 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.

P1310647What 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.

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Redundant Theme – Evergreen’s Vineyards

P1310197There are some motifs which reoccur throughout the Evergreen Mural Walk artwork.  Let’s be transparent about what they are because these themes will eventually amount to be the identity of the Evergreen Community in different stages of its history.  A common denominator which reoccurs several times within the artwork is Evergreen’s agricultural prides.  One of those were our vineyards and its grapes.

Interior-FirstGeneration-PierrePellierLouis%20Pellier%20from%20HSJ(1)California would have its own wild grape before immigrants began colonizing.  The California Missions would grow grapes by the Spanish, but not fancy ones.  The Pellier family from Evergreen would bring European grape varietals over from their Native France in the 1850’s and ignite the California Wine Industry.

Charles C. Smith, F.J. Smith Store and Residence, Adam Herman,Evergreen was a town that began alongside the California Wine Industry.  One of the first businesses in Evergreen would be opened by town founder, Francis J. Smith.  The Smith Winery off of San Felipe Road at the epicenter of Evergreen. openeing next door to the family’s general store.  I will do some further research whether or not this is the same structure the beauty salon opened in at the same location today.

P1320569 The Kettmann clan would boast about their hundreds of acres vineyards, even keeping them planted even through Prohibition when many farmers abandoned them.  The Kettmann family profited off of the sales made for illegal winemaking operations.

Heritage Room azules.pdfWilliam Wehner, a German painter coming to California by way of Chicago, would who come to Evergreen and build the Wehner Mansion or Villa Lomas Azules in 1891 by an influential skyscraper architect.  From the Mansion built for winemaking, Wehner would grow award winning white varieties of wine.  The Villa Lomas Azules, or Blue Hills Estate, would house winery operations for almost 75 years in Evergreen.

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1876 MapDr. C. C. Babb, Mayor John A. Quinby (Quimby), and farmer John Avena would also be noted as having vineyards in the Village of Evergreen in the early 1900’s.  I am fairly certain smaller vineyards would have existed throughout Evergreen for personal use.  Homesteads had to be self-sufficient as possible in those days.  These were what was found in Business Directories until 1902.

05s1cyP1310071The Pellier brothers plants would live on, but their French winemaking tradition would be passed down as well.  Henrietta Pellier, daughter of Pierre, would marry Mr. Mirassou and the couple began the Mirassou Winemaking Family still being cultivated in Evergreen today.  After Mirassou’s passing, her new husband would also continue to make wine in Evergreen.

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EastSideFruitGrowers-smThe East-side Fruit Growers Association would assist East San Jose and Evergreen farmers negotiate with Packing Companies.  Nearby Barron-Gray would need grapes for their first-to-market Fruit Cocktail.  Large winemaking operations would outsource certain varieties which they themselves couldn’t grow.  Grapes are fickle fruit.  They liked the climate and hillsides of Evergreen.  This East-side trade association would eventually be goggled up by the California Prune and Apricot Growers Association, which would become SunKist Fruit.

cribari1housevin-villagesAn Italian immigrant, Benjamino Cribari, would come to own the famed Wehner Mansion in 1933, then known as the Cribari Mansion, and plant vineyards up the steps of the Evergreen foothills and extended the winery’s property in 1940.  The Cribari’s family specialty would be table and altar wines.  Benjamino’s children and grandchildren would grow to cultivate the Evergreen vineyards into the 1970’s.  Silver Creek Winery is still operated by the Cribari family today.

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lomasazulesmenu2-9631Later generations of the Mirassou family vintners would lease the basement of the Cribari Mansion for wine storage.  The Wehner/Azul Lomas Villa/Cribari Mansion is now located inside the Villages Retirement Community nestled into Evergreen hills.  Today, the mansion is a historic landmark but needs a little love.

CAM09455P1310098The Mirassou Wine Family would be the oldest winemaking family in California.  Mirassou Winery today continues to be a landmark on Aborn Road.  The fourth generation would take over the wine operations in 1966.  The wine operations would move, due to suburban development and depletion of soil nutrients.  That having been said, this is an ungoing love affair for the Mirassou family who continue to make wine and call Evergreen home.

Vineyards in Evergreen may be scarce today, but we owe credit to the grapevines of Evergreen’s glory days.  Here’s the artwork conceived with our Evergreen vineyards in mind.

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Generations of the Kettmann Clan

P1320560Along the research for this Evergreen project, I have met the most fantastic people.  If this guy needed a new best friend, I would be first in line.  I discussed with Honorable Judge Gerhard J. Kettmann (Jerry) the four generations of his family who blossomed in Evergreen and continue to call Evergreen home today.  He’s the ultimate expert, having written a book and working on another about their family history.  What is extraordinary about the Kettmann family, making it a crucial piece of our mural series, is their witness to almost 150 years of Evergreen’s development.  We will start by discussing how the Kettmann’s came to America.  The United States is a country of immigrants.  We would all come here from somewhere else.  I think that’s the first thing that bonds all of us Evergreen residents together.

Gold Rush - Public DomainJohan Hermann Gerhard Kettmann (George) was the youngest of 8 siblings, born in 1827 in Kettenkamp, Germany.  His someday wife would be another German immigrant growing up only 8 miles away in Germany.  Gerhard Kettmann would leave his Native Country of Germany at the age of 22 and arrive in the Port of New Orleans in 1849.  Gerhard Kettmann would travel from Louisiana through Panama to come to Sutter County, California in 1853 and pan for gold.  With a little luck along the Yuba River and Feather River, George would come to purchase 160 acres of land in Sutter County.

140) George KettmannGeorge Kettmann would marry Bernadina Torbrecke in Marysville, California, but there’s a very cute folkloric story to this pairing.  Dina was first cousin of the Krehe Family, who would also come to live in Evergreen.  Henry and Bernard Krehe would invite their unmarried family members from Germany to come to the United States.  George Kettmann, being close friends with the Krehes, got to make his pick first and chose Bernadina.

6254956674_f8ffe7d622Whether that story was true or not, the German couple was married in Marysville, California in January of 1858.  George and Bernadina Kettmann would have eleven children.  The Kettmann clan would begin grow in Sutter County on the acreage along the Feather River, operating a general store known as “Five Mile House”.  In addition to the store along the highway, George also would raise a herd of sheep and cattle on his 160 acres before moving the whole herd, family and all, to the Santa Clara County.

P1320570George Kettmann showed interest in Santa Clara County in the 1850’s, after traveling their with a family member.  With the new variety of fruit being introduced to the agricultural field stimulated by Luis and Pierre Pellier, Kettmann made his move to Evergreen, then a tiny farming town.  George Kettmann would purchased a portion of Rancho Yerba Buena in 1867 near downtown Evergreen along Evergreen Road.  In fact, this first Evergreen parcel purchased by the Kettmanns belonged to the Chaboya Family’s attorney, William Matthews, and had been paid land in order to settle those legal fees.

1876 MapThis initial parcel was a perfect 150 acre rectangle with the exception of the land that had been donated to the Evergreen Elementary School.  Evergreen’s schoolhouse would be where the shopping center with the Valero and Wells Fargo is today.  The Evergreen Elementary School would be located here until 1892, when it moved a little down San Felipe Road.  Kettmann Road at Aborn Road is very near this school site, but it would’ve been on the other side of Thompson Creek, then Dry Creek.  Let it be known though that even the attorney didn’t donate this land.  That carried over on the Title from the previous owner, Mr. Cadwallader.

P1320569The Kettmann family didn’t stop with that first purchase of 147.7 acres in downtown Evergreen.  Through an interesting purchase and exchange of land with fellow German immigrants, the Hassler family, the Kettmanns obtained another 103.10 acres in 1875.  The Hasslers and Kettmanns separated the properties along the Touchard Line, which falls on part of present day Neiman Boulevard.   Modern day Kettmann Road, where the Evergreen Library Branch is located on Aborn Road, runs between these two land purchases.  As Evergreen folklore would have it, this acquisition was the only purchase Antonio Chaboya’s family actually profited off of after their debts were settled trying to evict their new neighbors.  In 1881, one of George Kettmann’s sons would become an Evergreen landowner as well.

P1320549The eldest of eleven siblings, Clemens Andrew Kettmann was born on the Marysville ranch in 1858, less than a year after the couple wed.  Clemens would’ve made the journey with his father, George, the large sheep herd and fellow cowboys to Evergreen in 1868.  Clemens Kettmann was the only son to make the journey at 9 years old.  Young Clem only had sisters at that point.  The trek from Marysville with the herd must’ve taken over a month on horseback.  The rest of the family would come in 1869, after Dina gave birth to another sister.  From the Evergreen homestead, the clan would continue to raise livestock but also incorporate fruit, vegetables and grain into their business strategy.

P1320566Homestead Laws would allow families to obtain a certain portion of land from the government after cultivating it for 5 years.  The Kettmann Family as a group diversified this ranching strategy in the heart of Evergreen and accentuated their grazing potential with homestead purchases along the back side of Mt. Hamilton Ranch.  These adjoining Mt. Hamilton homesteads weren’t fantastic for farming, but it could and would be done with altered harvesting equipment.  The Kettman clan had so many acres in the Mt. Diablo Mountain Range, this area would become known as “Kettmann Range”.  Lamb and sheep would be a rarity in Evergreen and San Jose at this time.  Cattle ranching would’ve been totally ordinary and generally what had been grazing throughout Evergreen for some 50 years beforehand.  The Kettmann clan held on to their German heritage by passing on this tradition.

P1310192Clemens Kettmann would come to purchase the adjacent parcel to his father’s in 1881, then 23 years old, from Louis Kampfen, another German farmer, who obtained his portion after the Hasslers from the previous Hassler/Kettmann deal.  This was 80.18 acres large, literally being the family’s “80 acres”.  Kettmann’s friends and cousins, the Krehe Family, would also move in nearby.  There was quite the hotspot of German American culture in early Evergreen, with the Smith’s and Stephens Families nearby.

P1320551Clemens A. Kettmann would marry a German-American lady, Mary Vollmer, in 1890 at St. Joseph’s Basilica in downtown San Jose.  Mary wore an apricot colored dress, how fitting.  Clem Kettmann and Mary Vollmer would have seven kids on their Evergreen homestead.  This labor force, along with his younger brothers at his father’s homestead next door, would help Clem Kettmann cultivate the land.

P1320554Having a big family in the 19th century was a big deal.  You needed help working on the farm.  In fact, having eleven children wouldn’t be enough to operate ranches as large as these.  The Kettmanns would employ help in the house and on the farm.  The children would start picking fruit between school breaks and into adulthood would sew sacks and become a part of the traveling crew harvesting crops all over Evergreen.  Harvests were true team efforts.  A barter system would be reached for labor and harvesting.  Horses were in high demand for plowing and the like.  Labor was generally $2.00 a day for a horse and a man.  This was a typical scene from the Fowler Threshing Syndicate, harvesting grain.  Evergreen was a teambuilding utopia back in the day.  Strength in numbers seemed to be a focus.

P1320557Generations of the Kettmann clan would grow up in Evergreen alongside the Industrial Revolution.  George Kettmann would’ve farmed just like he had learned to in his Native Germany, very much by hand.  The Farming Industry during this time would transition from horse and plow, pitchforks, sickle and scythe to tractors, threshing machines and haypresses.  George’s youngest son, Andrew Kettmann, would develop tools for apricot harvesting.  Clem’s children, too, would’ve hand first on experience transitioning from horse pulled threshing crews to tractor or truck pulled rig.  The Kettmann clan would continuously learn to adapt their farming techniques as the technology improved.  In the 1920’s, Clem’s son, Julius, would open a garage to help fix machines in downtown San Jose after adapting and fixing machinery on the family homestead.  This legacy can be seen as descendants now operate the Kettmann Machining, Inc. in San Jose.

Apricots jpgGeorge and Clem would both plant orchards on their properties.  Clemens Kettmann would plant several acres of apricots with their commercial stock going way up.  Mixing his varieties of apricot, Clem created a sweet apricot which was also large and ripened evenly.  Clem’s sloped property presented irrigation problems for portions of his orchards.  He found the unirrigated crop was sweeter but smaller than the other harvest.  These were his apricots.  He would find the same to be true of his corn crops.  Those that were naturally watered were naturally sweeter.

P1320553The Kettmann families would plant several acres of prunes and cherry orchards along with their apricots.  The clan also had several acres of vineyards also at their Evergreen property.  Threshing crews would cultivate over a hundred acres of grain, oats and alfalfa from the Kettmann farms.  I never thought about it before, but horses take a lot to feed.  If you have horses for plowing, you need acres just to settle your own horses.  The Kettmann family would continue to grow and branch out in Evergreen.  Into the 1900’s their children would take over the roles running the farms and ranches after their education.  Prohibition cause a lot of vintners to pull up their grapevines and retire their wine businesses.  The Kettmanns did not however and made a small fortune continuing to sell grapes for underground wine operations.  Between these ranches and the Kettmann Range, the Evergreen family was sitting pretty.

CAM10101 6238515012_b826539c1b_oThe German American Inventor and all around funny guy, Andrew Kettmann would grow up sewing sacks for grain and maintaining the family farm.  George’s son and Clem’s youngest brother, Andy Kettmann would open downtown Evergreen’s second Saloon along San Felipe Road.  Andrew Kettmann’s Saloon became increasingly popular amongst quicksilver miners through World War I.  This spot would be a hub of culture until 1920 when Prohibition was enforced.  Until then, many tipsy tales were told out of Andy’s Saloon.

P1320562After George’s passing in 1912, his property would be equally divided amongst his eleven children.  The Kettmann Family Ranch would continue to modernize with Clem’s son’s, Louis.  Louis Kettmann would take Clem’s horse powered ranch into the present with the purchase of a tractor built from tank parts.  Large mechanical farming equipment would need to be leased or the old machinery would need to be updated.  The rural Village of Evergreen was rapidly changing through the early 1900’s.  Cars were a blessed invention and roads would be paved, but open space began to dwindle.  That free path to the Kettmann Range through Downtown Evergreen would close up.  Clem would pass in 1943.  The Kettmann family continued to expand, but some would start breaking away from the family business to pursue their own goals.  Farming in Evergreen would become more scarce as more residents starting moving in.  Managing the wasn’t easy business as my interviewee would realize firsthand.

CAM09451In the summer of 1947, Judge Jerry Kettmann, then just known as Jerry, would lease hay land from Grandma Mary (Vollmer) Kettmann.    It was Jerry’s idea to make it rich that summer and buy a convertible to take out coeds from San Jose State.  This same model T, pictured here with Jerry taken over that summer, pooped out in the middle of the road off San Fernando and 4th Street near the University.  Jerry called his cousin to help push the car out of the roadway and into the gas station it pooped out yards away from.  Jerry Kettmann would sell off a nearly paid-off tractor to cover his losses and pay his grandmother back that summer.

George’s great grandson and Clem’s grandson,  Judge Gerhard J. Kettmann, was born in 1926 in Los Gatos but would soon relocate to his father’s Evergreen homestead.  As a boy, Jerry would attend Evergreen Elementary School, then Roosevelt Middle School and San Jose High School.  Kettmann recalls family get togethers with the Chaboya family as a child.   Jerry would throw apricots like snowballs, run through vacant mine shafts and sleep in homemade treehouses in Evergreen.  Judge Kettmann is a huge fan of flying, a fondness he developed on an aircraft carrier in World War II.  Kettmann’s father and grandfather could’ve told him tales of Montgomery’s pioneer flights from their own experience.

After serving in the Navy in World War II, Jerry Kettmann later worked in the railroad as a fireman, at the Baron-Gray Packing Company packing fruit and then at the Post Office downtown before attending SJSU for Aviation Engineering then Business and Economics.  Sadly, young Jerry’s 1947 dream of striking it rich quick would never be realized.

5985901606_458641384egavelThe Honorable Judge Jerry Kettmann was accepted to Stanford Law in 1953 but instead attended UC Berkeley, where he graduated in the upper third of his class.  Judge Kettmann began working as a Trust Attorney for Wells Fargo, but left to pursue trial law with the District Attorney’s Office.  Though Judge Kettmann is partial to Civil Law, he told me about 85% of the cases he saw on the bench were criminal cases.  Judge Kettmann would oversee cases at the height of the Civil Rights movement, even appearing in front of an Angela Davis case.  Rioters would shout things and try to frustrate Judges.  It wouldn’t work on Judge Kettmann, though.  He removed their signs and have them properly tagged by court officials as the defending attorney tried including them as evidence.  Judge Kettmann would find himself arbitrating through the later part of his career.

P1320567Judge Gerhard J. Kettmann would retire from the Law and write from his Evergreen home.  The Kettmann family historian carries a tradition that began about 150 years ago in Evergreen.  Judge Kettmann, though groomed on the farm, managed to keep up with the quickly changing times.  This area of Evergreen, between Kettmann Road and Neiman Boulevard  was developed beginning in the 1960’s.  At 89 years young, Judge Kettmann’s enthusiasm is contagious.  Really, I am so proud of my Evergreen people.  It makes my job so easy when they are great and have great stories to tell!  Here’s the artwork we have worked up for the Kettmann Family.

1877

 

 

Redundant Theme – Mining for Evergreen

minerMiners who would strike it rich in the Gold Rush would make Evergreen their home in the later half of the 1800’s.  The discovery of gold would hasten California’s Statehood and spur immigration to the Golden State.  Evergreen had a huge hand in bringing California to Statehood.  Businessman, Orchardist, winemaker and French immigrant, Luis Pellier, would become the father of California’s Fruit Industry when noting the high price of fruit  while he was panning for gold.  With a little success gold panning and a little luck being a farmer from France, he managed to create his own gold.  Henry W. Coe, for whom the park is named after, struck it rich importing mining equipment through the Gold Rush, enabling him to invest in such a large Evergreen property after pulling stakes up from Willow Glen.

A little known fact is that the Town of Evergreen would be that it is built up around active, productive mines.  Tracking down these mines would be a little bit of a dig, but mining was a big deal for two distinct periods of time in Evergreen’s history.  Mercury and Quicksilver are in the foundation of San Jose’s History, so much so that newspaper is called the Mercury News.

6238515012_b826539c1b_oOne of the first businesses ever opened in Evergreen was the Kettmann Saloon.  Andrew Kettmann’s establishment was located on San Felipe Road in Downtown Evergreen, just North of the historic Smith family homes and businesses.  The turn of the 20th century watering hole was frequented by miners up until Prohibition.  The inebriated patrons would stumble off to kiss under the bridges of creek crossings nearby Cadwallader neighborhood by Keaton Loop.  Prohibition brought the business under and San Felipe Road would be rerouted.

P1300843H. R. Bradford would eventually come to own the mining prospect and property in the 1890’s.  Mr. Hector R. Bradford came from a mining family and one with political interests.  Father, F. W. Farnsworth and once Governor of Massachusetts and descendants of Mayflower passangers, would move the family out West to California in 1884.  Eldest son H. R. was only nine years old and sweeping around mine shafts as child.  As an adult, H. R. Bradford would accumulate mining interests across California, but especially adored his Evergreen holding.  He and partner J. Treadwell would own and operate the Silver Creek Mining Company.  His business acumen was something to be admired.

P1310168In 1895, a close examination of the flooding and mines was made and Silver Creek mines began delivering pay ore.  Silver Creek mines was producers of quicksilver, mercury and cinnabar.

P1310180Mr. H. R. Bradford must have heard about furnaces like this at the mining prospect before making his decision about the Silver Creek acquisition.  Quicksilver Mining would require lots of timber to fuel the furnaces.  Evergreen had plenty of orchards pulling trees and natural oak trees.  Bradford’s property in Evergreen was huge.

P1320151Silver Creek Mines and the Mining Company would be named after Silver Creek, a spring and creek which lay nearby the site of the mines.  In fact, this mine is located directly Southeast from Silver Creek Valley Country Club, and you know you’re wicked close when you’re along the backside of the Country Club and get to the Creek.  The mine now sits with the Espinosa family for some years now.

P1310211These mines in Evergreen, however, were preexisting.  Bradford purchased historic cinnabar mines that were dormant and flooded for 25 years.  These mines would be 5 miles North of the Almaden Mines.  Their original name were the North Almaden Mines when it was owned by A. J. Piercy.  Heir E. M. Piercy would sell to Bradford.  Before the North Almaden Mining Company extracted cinnabar ore, it was known as the Adams Mine.  The Comstock Panic would bring the mines to a halt in the 1860’s.  The Comstock Panic brought to light poor money management and stock dealings in the mining industries in 1865.  True interests and dividends were not being distributed properly.  New Almaden would halt due to wage negotiations in the 1860’s.  World War I & II would bring the mines back to popularity in the production of ammunitions.

Was Silver Creek named for the quicksilver found near by?  Contamination could’ve been the reason for the name.  It could also be named after its sparkling beauty.  This is really a chicken-egg debate that only the Native Ohlone can answer.

cinnabarThe Native Americans here in Evergreen would take note of the red soil and water contamination.  They knew about the cinnabar before the Spanish came to colonize California.

New Almaden Mines would date back to 1824.  It’s name came from a combination of Arabic words “Al”, from, and “Maden”, the mine.  Quicksilver would be cultivated at New Almaden then North Almaden in Evergreen.  The largest producer would be Spain’s Alamden mines, or Old Almaden Mines.  Quicksilver would be used in medicine and in the amalgamation of gold and silver ores as far back as the 16th century through furnaces and distillation.

6254963938_955a7fda19_oOnly faint traces of the mines and mining culture can be found in Evergreen today.  Here shown to the left is historian Richard Neiman, showing of some 100 year old mining equipment found at Blauer Ranch in the 1960’s.  One half of Blauer Ranch would become the front portion of the Villages.  The other would become the Silver Creek Valley Country Club.

Mining creates a redundant theme in our Evergreen Mural Walk artwork.  Here’s some of the Artwork with Mining overtones.

1833 1855 1877 1895

Apricot Town

Apricots jpg 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.

240px-Fruit_exchange_labelBarry 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.

12314282_198416020500512_5584157587879954674_oI 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.

l_19778052Canned 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.

istockphoto_5513085-dried-apricots-on-whiteNot 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.

apricotsIt 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.

dried-apricot-2The 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.

CAM10101The 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.

books1Back 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.

booksOE4IRI16The 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.

a 1945 - ApricotsWhen 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 fruit label 19621930 1950 19851915 1860

Evergreen Founders

hb896nb4gd-FID3Let’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.

Map 004, Saratoga, Evergreen, Santa Clara, San Antonio, MountaiAfter 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, F.J. Smith Store and Residence, Adam Herman,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.

6237991695_9e7a65829f_oNext 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.

165) Kathrine SmithFrancis 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.

P1310653Though 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.

P1310165The 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.

1870

Redundant Theme – Orchardists

10688125_10153388158008316_4870909524103337438_o 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.

1848Our 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.

Evergreen treesGunless 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.

EastSideFruitGrowers-smThe 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.

19621220710745410.jpg_w900Otis 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.

240px-Fruit_exchange_labelWhen 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.

s-l225Popular 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.

Untitled-2 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.

1476380_10201283641709104_1152500910_nP1310515My 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.

a 1945

evergreen fruit label

a 1925

a 1945 - Apricots

a 1917

1915