Forbes Mill

Forbes Mill is the last rough-hewn rock building still standing in Los Gatos. The structure that remains was a two-story annex built in 1880 onto the original mill building. The original part of the mill was a four-story stone and wood structure that was constructed in 1854. The mill builder was a Scotsman named James Alexander Forbes, who arrived in California in 1831. Forbes was ultimately unsuccessful in running the mill, but later owners were. Flour was milled here until 1887. After that point, the building became a power plant, brewing and bottling company, and was owned by a gas company. The original part of the mill was demolished in 1915 and 1929. In recent years the annex was a museum called the Forbes Mill Museum; this closed in 2014. The annex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

James Alexander Forbes (1804-1881) arrived in California in 1831 on the whaling ship Fanny. He settled in Monterey and became the Vice Consul for the British government. In the early years of the California Gold Rush (1848-1855), and as settlers arrived in the general area and began to farm, Forbes saw an opportunity to build a mill. At the time of the Gold Rush, the price of flour increased to $50 a barrel. Forbes wanted to take advantage of this and acquired the necessary backing to build a grist mill; he purchased 3,000 acres of El Rancho Rinconada in 1850. The site chosen was near Los Gatos Creek and the old Mission trail connecting Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. The four-story mill was finished in 1854; the three stories of stone were topped by a wood upper story. The stone was quarried from the creek to the south of the mill site. Forbes named the business the Santa Rosa Flour Mill. A delay in shipping the needed equipment left the mill unused until December 1855. By this time, other mills had been built and the price of flour dropped to $5 per barrel.

Unfortunately for Forbes, he did not know how to run a mill or how to manage the water level to provide enough power to turn the mill's water wheels; as a result, the mill did not run for long periods of time. He went bankrupt after defaulting on loans and speculating on wheat and flour; he sold off the land and mill to a creditor in 1857. Later owners included William H. Rogers, a New York native with milling experience who came to California to mine for gold. Rogers and his partners were able to increase the water intake by building a new dam and a reservoir to supply water year-round. The mill machinery was modified as well, and the mill became efficient and profitable. The mill was renamed the Los Gatos Manufacturing Company. The company added a woolen mill to the property, but the wooden building burned down in 1872 and was not replaced. Rogers is credited with installing the first "telephone" in Los Gatos when he strung copper wire and tin cans with a drumhead over their ends for 500 feet from his house to the mill. The surviving, two-story stone annex was added onto the north side of the grist mill building in the fall of 1880 by Rogers and his partner, Dr. W. S. McMurty. McMurty's fifteen-year-old son, George, reportedly hauled stone from a quarry on the creek to the site using a horse and sled.

After the mill closed in 1887, it became a power plant for the Los Gatos Ice and Power Company. Later owners used the mill as a bottling works and brewery, a gas company, and an electric company substation. The electric company demolished the top three floors of the original part of the mill in 1915; the first floor was removed in 1929. The mill was abandoned by the 1950s and was vacant for a couple decades. The building was recycled as the Los Gatos Youth Center in 1971.

The mill was designated a State Historical Landmark in 1950 and was the first commercial building in Los Gatos. The annex, the only surviving part of the former mill building, became a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1978. The annex was saved from demolition and was turned into a museum in the early 1980s by local volunteers. The museum, which featured rotating and traveling exhibits on Los Gatos and Santa Clara Valley history, closed in 2014. The annex is adjacent to the Los Gatos Creek Trail; the walking trail is open from 7 a.m. to sunset.

Anderson, Kenneth L., Jr. Groff, Sybil. HABS documentation of Forbes Mill Addition. Los Gatos, California. Volume HABS CA-2062. Historic American Buildings Survey. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1979.

Lee, Robert Elton. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Forbes Mill Annex, Los Gatos, CA. Washington, D.C. National Park Service, 1977.

Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce. History, About Los Gatos. January 1st, 2008. Accessed June 25th, 2024. http://losgatoschamber.com/history.html.

Museums of Los Gatos. The History Museum in the Forbes Mill Annex, Museums of Los Gatos. January 1st, 2007. Accessed June 25th, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20080509143432/http://www.losgatosmuseum.org/History/historymuseum.html.

National Park Service. Forbes Mill Annex, National Park Service: Place. Accessed June 25th, 2024. https://www.nps.gov/places/forbes-mill-annex.htm.