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68℉Historic Resources - Working List
The places, objects, and structures below are not currently identified on the City's Historic Resources Inventory. San José residents, historians, and others have submitted the information as a part of the Historic Context Statement update process.
Narrative text, graphics, and links have been prepared by the project historians. These instances will later be assigned a location, theme, period (date) and receive a reconnaissance-level evaluation for historical significance to determine if they qualify for the Historic Resources Inventory as a part of this survey. Some that clearly do not or no longer have a physical connection to San José will be labeled "orphans."
On August 22, 1943, two special railway cars arrived in San Jose, Calif., carrying IBMers who were to operate the company's first West Coast manufacturing facility: a card plant (located in the former Temple Laundry) at Sixteenth and St. John Streets. In that pioneering contingent from IBM's Endicott and Washington plants were 92 IBMers and family members, plus 13 single women who had replaced men in war service. An additional nine locally-hired employees were on the roster when the plant was dedicated by Thomas J. Watson, Sr., on September 10, 1943. In July 1960, punched card manufacturing was moved from San Jose to a new facility in Campbell, Calif.
From that small card plant starting with 52 employees, IBM grew in the San Jose area to include a research and manufacturing center at Monterey and Cottle Roads, a card plant in Campbell, a large branch office, the Almaden Research Center and more than 3,000 employees. IBM Archives.
Little documentation exists of the historic Northway Farm in Edenvale. This one-mile long track built for training racehorses existed for a quarter of a century, nested between Monterey Highway and what became the Highway 101 Bypass. Originally built by sports enthusiast Norman W. Church of Los Angeles, many thoroughbreds were likely bred and trained here, including probably Church's Gallant Sir shown above. It was replaced by the Great Oaks subdivision and Edenvale Shopping Center in 1959. Today, the streets in the subdivision are named after famous thoroughbreds of that era, including Seabiscuit, Grey Ghost, Stagehand, Kayak, Battle Dance, Gallant Fox, Pharlap, Carry Back, Swaps, Azucar, Discovery, and Whirlaway. (orphaned)
San Jose Municipal Stadium was built in 1941-1942 as a Works Progress Administration project, the last of baseball stadium built in San José during the first half of the twentieth century, the rest now long gone. In the 1950s and 1960s. Eddie Chavez and Luis Molina were drawing such large crowds that the matches were moved to Muni Stadium. In 1953, Chavez beat Henry Davis in the first bout ever televised nationally from San José, and in the late 1950s and 1960s, Molina became the box office king in San José and in 1956 became the only boxer from San José to ever make the Olympic team.
Margaret Jenkins was a pioneer of track and field and a champion athlete. She was the first woman from Santa Clara County to compete in the Olympics, and part of the first contingent of women athletes from the US to ever compete in the Olympics in 1928. Her specialty was javelin, but she competed at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics in discus. She earned more than 100 metals during her career while setting records at local, state, and worldwide events - setting the world record for javelin throw in 1928.
In the late 1970s, San José became known as the feminist capital of the world. with a female mayor, council majority, and Assistant City Manager. Union leaders of AFSCME Local 101 (Municipal Employees Federation), negotiated with the City what was called the Hay Study conducted for $500,000 by Hay Associates to better understand the issue of equal pay for comparable worth for city workers (not to be confused with pay equity).
The Hay Study found that while men and women in the same jobs were paid equally, jobs dominated by women were paid 2% to 10% below the average for all city jobs, and male-dominated jobs averaged 3% to 15% above the average.
Local 101 failed to convince the City leadership to respond to the findings of disparity of women's pay throughout the City workforce. The union took the City out on strike for comparable pay for women workers in July 1981. The 10-day strike of about 1,500 librarians, mechanics, janitors and clerical workers was the first of its kind and drew national media attention.
Headquartered at 715 N 1st Street, this building was the site of planning and management of that important strike in the labor history of the nation. Documents from that strike are now archived at the San Francisco State University Labor Archives.
Along the public right-of-way of East Empire Street next to a new housing development at North Seventh Street is a row of ten mature Mexican Fan Palm trees (Washingtonia robusta). They provide a distinctive setting within the greater Japantown neighborhood of San José's Northside.
Planted around 1912 when a dried-fruit packing house was built on the adjacent site, they are now about 109 years old.
The Anita Produce Company was established that year on the site by Heinrich Haas, a resident of Hamburg, Germany, where he ran a wholesale house reportedly one of the largest in Europe at the time. He had visited San José in 1911, as was so enamored with its dried fruit products, that he bought this property and built the warehouse to get into the dried fruit market for export to Europe.
Haas's involvement with the local dried fruit industry ended with World War I due to the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act.Haas continued to own this property however until 1937. The buildings, now gone, later served as Herbert Packing Company and then J.D. Brennan Vegetable Packing.
Only a few historic sites remain from the early Chinese pioneers in San José and Santa Clara County. A plot of land 140 feet by 160 feet near Oak Hill Memorial Park has been cared for by the Chinese community since its creation in the 1870s. By 1900, eight Chinese organization had banded together and were deeded the land for their own cemetery.
In 1980, the South Bay Historic Chinese American Cemetery Corporation was established to keep up the appearance of the cemetery, to maintain the existing structures, to add only those improvements which will not detract from its historic value, and to educate the community at large.
The cemetery contains a small altar consisting of a marble memorial stone set in brick, and a tall square brick structure with a pyramidal roof that had served as a burner for paper offerings.Apolonio S. Flores, Jr. (1928-2006) was born in Chicago, Illinois, but later made his home in San José with his wife Lucy and their five children. In San José, he established a Mexican bakery and later market and then ultimately a locally famous taqueria. Until recent times known as Guadalajara Restaurant and Market #1, it was a popular destination on Alum Rock Avenue in East San José for over half a century.
La Guadalajara has been referred to as the Original Taqueria of Santa Clara Valley.
Flores was known as an extraordinary member of the community, and remembered as a kind and giving person. In the early years when people would come into La Guadalajara and were short on funds, Mr. Flores would extend credit to his customers or tell them to pay him at a later time.
The Flores family later opened Guadalajara #2 at North Tenth and Empire Streets, which remained in operation until closed by a kitchen fire around six years ago. An additional taqueria was opened on South First Street (Guadalajara #3) and was
In 1952, organizer Fred Ross established the San José Chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO) at 1402 1/2 East Santa Clara Street. CSO had been formed in Los Angeles in 1947 by Latino veterans of World II to advocate for urban ethnic communities.
The Caltrain and Union Pacific station known as College Park Station near Bellarmine is said to have been constructed around 1911. However, this site, and perhaps the building itself, is mentioned in the first scene in Jack London's 1903 Call of the Wild. It was apparently the location at which the stolen canine protagonist is fenced, beginning his journey away from civilization.
"No one saw him and Buck go off through the orchard on what Buck imagined was merely a stroll. And with the exception of a solitary man, no one saw them arrive at the little flag station known as College Park. This man talked with Manuel, and money chinked between them."
The story opens at a ranch in Santa Clara Valley, California, when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska. He becomes progressively more primitive and wild in the harsh environment, where he is forced to fight to survive and dominate other dogs. By the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization, and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.
The now vacant false front identified in signage today as Felix Market and addressed as 1602 or 1604 East San Antonio Street at South 33rd Street first appeared on this site as an apparent moved-on building just after World War II. It served as a grocery store for many years serving the Mayfair West neighborhood.
The first identified grocer was Benjamin Hernandez, but after a few short years Juan Madrid was the operator and he called his store LaPrimavera.
By 1960, Eliseo and Eulalia Felix had taken over the store and lived nearby. They renamed it Felix Market and advertised on the signage Productos Mexicanos.
In the 2000s, recent owners of the property tried to obtain approval to re-start the commercial use of the building, but commercial use was found to be non-conforming, so the building remains vacant today.
Prayer Garden Church of God in Christ is located on the 600 block of North 6th Street in what is known as San Jose's Japantown. The church was organized in 1943 by Elder Milton Mathis who was Pastor for many years. He at first rented a two-story building on the site that had been a part of San Jose's Chinatown, and then the congregation acquired two more adjacent properties.
The congregation rapidly expanded, largely due to weekly radio broadcasts by Elder Mathis on Radio KEEN. In 1954 they started a building campaign, and obtained their building permit in 1955 with construction commencing by 1957. The chapel was completed in 14 weeks, and the dedication of the building in July 1959.
the men and women of the congregation, with Elder Elbert Johnson the head carpenter, and the modern design was by Noble W. Houston, Church Consultant, as noted in the plans on file with San Jose's Building Division. Church history attributes the plans to church member Leonard Taylor.
The Hellyer Velodrome is the only such bike racing track in Northern California. Built in 1963, it is the fifth of a succession of tracks built since 1892 in San Jose to serve its avid cycling enthusiasts. The sport declined after World War II, but revived with the construction of the Hellyer Park Velodrome for the Pan Pacific Games. Since opening, Hellyer has hosted a number of National cycling events including the 1972 US Olympic bicycling trials.
Today, the track is operated in Hellyer County Park by the Northern California Velodrome Association. It was renovated in 2007.
Foster's Freeze near Japantown was built in 1949 for owner Albert DeMarco and has changed little in the ensuing 72 years. It's popularity as a fast food eatery in San José is unparalleled.
Foster's Old Fashion Freeze was first founded by George Foster in Inglewood in 1946 and the chain quickly spread during the post-World War II period. Providing fast-food and "California's Original Soft Serve" this Moderne building with its wide canopy and neon sign atop a slender post remains authentic to its prototype.
The building was rehabilitated in 2003 with the help of the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San José and architect Kenneth Rodriguez & Partners, Inc. The parapet was rebuilt, the sign repaired, and a new canvas awning installed.
A sister Foster's was located in the Washington neighborhood at 102 Willow Street, but has long closed and replaced by Taqueria La Mejor 2. A later version of this fast food restaurant with indoor seating was built in Campbell on Camden Avenue.
Carrie Stevens Walter (1846-1907), decades ahead of her time, was an educator and poet, and was the most prominent writer for the Save Big Basin movement. She was a co-founder of the Sempervirons Club and its Secretary.
As an accomplished journalist and publisher in San José, she also wrote newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements, commercials, short stories, and serials. She served as Editor of City Times and Associate Editor of The San Josean.
In the mid-1890s, she built a residence at North 2nd and Jackson Streets, and lived there with her three children for a decade prior to her death in 1907. That building, in excellent condition today, has been converted to an office building at the edge of the Japantown business district.
Alum Rock Park within the hills of East San José was established in 1872 within the City Charter and an Act of the State Legislature. The State Act required the creation of a board of commissioners to administer the park as well as the State designated route from the city limits of San José.
Now almost 150 years old, next year it will celebrate its sesquicentennial.
Over the years there have been many manmade park features that added to the visitor experience. Most of those features are now gone, but the park continues to serve the families of San José who enjoy it for its open space, ecology, and sense of history.
City Historian Clyde Arbuckle compiled in his book on San José a detailed history of the park origins and the evolution of its use. Today, the park remains an important cultural landscape for the greater San José, whose history tells the story of how San José evolved after the Americanization of California.
The large two-story Craftsman house at the southwest corner of North 5th and East St. John Streets was built in 1910 for George and Nancy Roberts. Designed by prominent local architect George W. Page, it was one of the last buildings he designed and is representative of his advocacy for the Craftsman style near the end of his life.
The building was evaluated as a part of the Civic Center Plaza project as well as Roberts Spiritualist Temple building to its immediate south.
Nancy Roberts was a spiritualist and healing medium and the Roberts were the center of the spiritualist movement in San José during that period.
In 1929, the property was purchased by George K. Lee, a Chinese herbalist who operated the Pekin Herb Company out of the building. The herb company continued at this site under his son James R. Lee, an osteopath, until 1984 after 55 years in operation.
The Queen Anne styled house at the northwest corner of North 5th and East St. John Streets was built in the late 1880s for William Miller, an Oregon stock raiser who moved to San Jose in 1884 with his wife Sarah and their children.
Between 1955 and 1968, a number of black students and student-athletes lived in this residential building at what became known as the Good Brothers House, where they supported each other socially, financially and academically. In 1955, when Chuck Alexander came to San Jose State University to study and play football, the athletic program was just beginning to integrate African-American students, and he and his friend Benny Walker rented this house.
Many of his African-American teammates and friends, who later became world-class athletes, were first in their families to attend college but the nation was still segregated, and black students struggled to find a place to live. The Good Brothers held study groups and when they struggled to put food on the table or pay rent, they worked odd jobs to support each other.
The Toyota dealership on Stevens Creek Boulevard was constructed in 1966 for Allison Pontiac. It is one of the few buildings in Northern California designed by Los Angeles-based architect Paul R. Williams (1894-1980). He had a prolific career from 1921 to 1973 and is now considered one of the nation's greatest African American architects.
With its grand curved wall of glass, the building remains largely unaltered except for the Toyota entry built when they took over the facility around 1998. The building has been described in a contemporary article as a "dream dealership" and hailed as "...the most beautiful and efficient automobile dealership in the world."
The Chase bank at Lincoln and Minnesota Avenues was built for Home Savings & Loan in 1972. It has been a prominent landmark in Willow Glen for the last half a century.
Home Savings, based in Southern California at the time, commissioned prominent artist and arts educator Millard Sheets (1907-1989) to design exterior facades for their branch banks containing large mosaic works depicting local heritage. The intent was that these works would serve as community landmarks by expressing "community values" or presenting "a celebratory version of the community history." Ultimately, Sheets designed over 80 of these installations and established his Sheets Studio in Claremont to create these works.
Along Lincoln Avenue is a life-size bronze depicting a woman and child.
These public works of art may be protected under the California the California Arts Preservation Act.
In 1887 following the burning of the second Market Street Chinatown in the downtown, Heinlenville and Woolen Mills were built to house the displaced residents. Around that time, the Methodist Episcopal Church moved their 1850 church building to the 500 block of North 7th Street to house their Chinese Mission that they had organized years earlier.
The church had become involved with Chinese women in California in 1868 when the founding of missions was authorized and first established in San Francisco. The missions had a dual purpose, by providing schools, and also as a refuge for women escaping slavery and prostitution. The San Jose mission remained at this location until destroyed by fire in 1914.
The Chinese Historical and Cultural Project is said to be working with the developers on a means of interpretation of this important site in San José history.
Architects Melvin Rojko, W.A. Sarmiento, and Thomas Ecoff of the Bank Building & Equipment Corporation of America designed the butterfly roof bank (now Chase) on Saratoga Avenue in 1962 for Salinas Valley Savings & Loan. The design is a mini version of the original design that Peruvian-born W.A. Sarmiento (1922- 2013) did in 1954 for Newport Balboa Savings.Sarmiento was educated at the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria in Lima. Has an avid modernist who worked for Oscar Niemeyer in Brazil, and joined other architects in South America to sign the MANIFIETO DE EXPRESION DE PRINCIPIOS (Manifest of Principle of Expression) in 1947.
Sarmiento emigrated to the United States in 1951, and working for Bank Building & Equipment Corporation, he became a driving force behind revolutionizing the look and feel of banking in postwar America through 1964, at which time he set out on his own and established a nation-wide firm focused on contemporary architecture.