The Santa Clara Railroad Depot was&nbsp;constructed in late 1863 by the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad Company as one of two "way stations" built between San Francisco and San Jose. &nbsp;The&nbsp;South Bay Historical Railroad Society is dedicated to the preservation of the local railroad heritage, and was created in 1985. The SBHRC has various artifacts and buildings that tell the history of the local railroad:&nbsp;Oregon-Washington Railroad &amp; Navigation business car #184,&nbsp;two operational HO and N scale model railroad layout displays, and the Santa Clara Tower with the interlocking machine.&nbsp;<br><br>The two-story Santa Clara Interlocking Control Tower is one of two unmodified Harriman Standard No.4 towers still standing in California. The interlocking machine has&nbsp;many switches and signals from the north end of the Santa Clara yard to the junction switches and signals controlling the tracks to and from both San Francisco and Oakland.&nbsp;Tours are available during SBHRC's operating hours.<br>

South Bay Historical Railroad Society (Santa Clara Tower)

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National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Santa Clara Depot

The Santa Clara Tower is home to the first computer ever installed in Silicon Valley: the Santa Clara interlocking machine. It was used from 1927-1993 and is now part of the South Bay Historical Railroad Society. The society is located in the historic Santa Clara Station, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower is situated just to the west of the depot building.

Start out west of downtown San Jose and drive to historical sites and museums in West San Jose and Santa Clara. The stops include nineteenth-century mansions, the synagogue of San Jose's oldest Jewish congregation, railroad stations, a tower with the first Silicon Valley computer, and a Spanish mission.

<p>As San José
and the Santa Clara Valley were gripped by the Great Depression, local leaders
realized that the area was becoming an important connector for people traveling
from Los Angles to San Francisco.&nbsp; As a
result, they sought to divert rail traffic away from the busy downtown area
that was served by the Fourth Street Station.&nbsp;
They identified a former industrial site just to the southwest of the
downtown area and then hired Southern Pacific Railroad architect John Christie
to design a new station.</p>

<p><span>Christie
designed a multi-level station in the Italian Renassiance Revival style.&nbsp; The three-story central section is flanked by
two two-story wings and is one of only four depots in California so designed.&nbsp; Since its construction, the depot has grown
both in size and importance as a public transportation center.&nbsp; Amtrak took over all long-distance passenger
train service in 1971 and the station was fully renovated in 1994.&nbsp; That same year, its name was changed to
Diridon Station to honor Santa Clara County Supervisor, Rod Diridon.&nbsp; It is still a stop for several “named”
Southern Pacific lines to include the San Francisco to Los Angles “Coast
Daylight,” the all first-class “Lark,” and the “Del Monte.”&nbsp; The Diridon also made an appearance in Alfred
Hitchcock’s 1964 film, <i>Marnie </i>as
Tippie Hedron waited on its platform for a train.</span></p>

<p>In 2005 a
VTA light-rail platform was added, while in 2016 Greyhound began to operate
from the station.&nbsp; Diridon has also
become a planned stop in the future for the California high-speed rail
line.&nbsp; There are also plans for a San José
BART subway extension for the station as well.&nbsp;
Recently, the city and tech corporations have been making plans to add
urban villages around the Diridon Station to include Google which seeks to
develop office and retail space, as well as housing in the area.&nbsp; </p>

<p>If all plans
for the station are achieved, Diridon will offer connections between seven
different rail and bus organizations: ACE (Altamont Corridor Express), Amtrak,
BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), Caltrain, CHSR (California High Speed Rail), VTA
(Valley Transportation Authority) light-rail and Greyhound.&nbsp; Diridon Station has served Silicon Valley
long before it was ever known as such and, given all the plans surrounding the
station, it will do so for the foreseeable future.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

Located in San José, California, Diridon Station has become a major mass transportation hub for the Silicon Valley and the northern part of the state.  Amtrak and commuter trains, local and regional bus lines and light rail all operate out of Diridon and if California’s high-speed rail line ever comes to fruition, it too will connect at Diridon.  The station itself was built in 1935 and was originally known as the Cahill Depot due to the street it’s located on as well as the Southern Pacific Depot as it was predominantly served by that railroad company.  It has faithfully served the San José area ever since.  Diridon Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 due to its architecture and historical significance.  

Diridon Station

The congregation worshipped at the first temple on 3rd Street from 1870, when it was built, to 1940, when a fire destroyed it. Fortunately, the Torah, Ner Tamid (eternal lamp), and stained glass windows were saved and are now located at&nbsp;the current temple.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Founded in 1861, Temple Emanu-El is San Jose's oldest Jewish Congregation. It was originally called Bickur Cholim ("visiting the sick" in Hebrew) and located on 3rd Street between Fernando and San Carlos Streets. It is one of the oldest Reform congregations on the West Coast and remains a vibrant community today. 

Temple Emanu-El

As early as 1851, p<span>lans
for a railroad linking San Francisco and San Jose (the first capital of California) had begun, and were revived eight years later. Financing for the project came from county
governments in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. The
first excursion ride in January 1864 between the two endpoints of San Francisco
and San Jose (SF &amp;&nbsp;SJ)&nbsp;attracted thousands of passengers&nbsp;in coaches, box cars and cattle
cars. When the train reached San Jose, it was greeted with a
13-gun salute and civic celebrations. <br><br>Only
four years after the commencement of service, the SF&amp;SJ was absorbed by the
new Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). SP constructed a line into
southern California and then towards the east, eventually linking with the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1881, completed the
second transcontinental railroad.<br><br><span>The
depot was moved to its current site on the west side of the tracks in 1877, probably due to safety considerations and
because of plans to add a freight depot at the rear of the station. By the turn of
the century, the Pratt-Low Preserving Company, the largest fruit packing plant
in central California, was established&nbsp;south of the depot. Other
local businesses included a lumber mill, a tannery noted for its fine leather,
a flour mill and a brewery. Santa Clara College was a
stockholder in the railroad, and the depot's proximity to the campus was intentional: students and faculty of the college were now able to commute quickly to San Francisco and San Jose. After World War II, San Jose and Santa Clara developed as the epicenter of semiconductor production. There were major developments in the electronics industry and corporations and startups moved to the area. Orchards&nbsp;were transformed&nbsp;into office parks, and the population exploded. <br><br></span><span>The depot features vertical board and batten siding of clear heart redwood that was felled in the nearby mountains. The
building has a wood-shingled gable roof with broad, overhanging eaves supported
on gable ends by knee-braced purlins and ridge beam, and on the sides by X-braces,
except that the west eaves of the passenger portion of the depot are supported
by curved brackets. Windows and doors make reference to the Greek Revival style
of architecture. The passenger end of the depot is the original structure, little changed from its original appearance. The entire building has
been in its present form since at least 1885.<br><br>The station currently serves the Amtrak California Capital Corridor line, the Altamont Corridor Express&nbsp;(ACE)&nbsp;line&nbsp;and Caltrain local and limited-stop trains. A Silicon Valley extension of the BART rapid transit system is expected to be built, in which the Santa Clara station will serve as the terminus. <br><br></span>South
Bay Historical Railroad Society (SBHRS) began restoration of the site in 1985.
Volunteers donated 25,000 hours of labor, which included removing debris,
replacing timbers, and extensive painting. <span>The
Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History, located in the depot, displays a
large collection of historic railroad artifacts. On the depot’s siding is the
Oregon-Washington Railroad &amp; Navigation business car #184, which was loaned
to the museum in June, 2009. Within the depot are two operational HO and N scale model railroad layout displays, depicting different railroad eras and venues.<br></span><b><br></b><br></span>

Santa Clara Depot (a.k.a., Santa Clara Station) is a one-story wood frame combination (passenger and freight) railroad depot located in Santa Clara, CA. According to its National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, the structure "is the oldest railroad station building in California in continuous service; is the only remaining station from the period of initial construction of the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad (California's second railroad after the pioneer Sacramento Valley Railroad); is one of only two structures of the SF & SJ to survive to the present (the other being the much-modified Menlo Park Depot); is one of the largest surviving wood frame depots in California; [and] is one of few remaining examples of board-and-batten depots. It retains a high degree of integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and represents the distinctive characteristics of a type, period and method of construction."

It was begun in 1859 (before the Civil War), was mostly completed by the autumn of 1863, when rail service began, and was probably finished by the end of December of that year. The construction of the railroad led to the growth of the Santa Clara area as a center for farming and fruit-related industries and was also associated with the growth of Santa Clara College (founded in 1851, later known as the University of Santa Clara).  

In 1983, the state of California, through Caltrans, acquired the building from the railroad, and two years later the South Bay Historical Railroad Society (SBHRS) leased the depot and started to restore it. SBHRS now maintains a small museum in the station, a model railroad display and a library of railroad history.

Santa Clara Depot was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in February, 1985.


Santa Clara Depot

<p>The museum
began with a request from Isabel de Saissat who, in 1950, offered to donate the
land to Santa Clara College so long as&nbsp;it promised to build a museum on the
space.&nbsp; She also donated jewelry, silver,
tapestries and her entire collection of paintings which had been completed by
her brother Ernest.&nbsp; The college finished
construction on the museum, located in front of the Mission Santa Clara de
Asis, in 1955 and de Saisset’s collection, as well as the collection from the college’s
Galtes Museum now had a home.</p>

<p>The museum
has since acquired many more works of art and artifacts (which now number
almost 10,000).&nbsp; It has also come to
focus on underappreciated and/or underrepresented artists and artistic styles.&nbsp; Its rotating art exhibits have and will
include Gold Rush, On Top of the Game: Santa Clara Sports, 1851-1950, and
Crossing Cultures: Belle Yang, a Story of Immigration.&nbsp; The museum also holds works by Albrecht
Durer, William Hogarth, Marc Chagall, and Pablo Picasso.</p>

<p><span>As for the museum’s
historical exhibits, they consist primarily of artifacts associated with the
Mission Santa Clara and the history of the Santa Clara Valley from pre-Columbian
times, through the Gold Rush and to the early years of Santa Clara
College.&nbsp; de Saisset also hosts numerous
special events and receptions, such as a NFL Films screening of the 49ers five
championships, college night and the Art of Gold.&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>

Combining the best elements of a history and art museum, the de Saisset displays both historical artifacts and works of art with unique skill and class.  Owned and operated by Santa Clara University, the de Saisset first opened its doors in 1955 and has been telling the story of the local area and inspiring its visitors with exquisite works of art ever since.  Admission to the museum is free, but donations are accepted and greatly appreciated.

de Saisset Museum

<span><p>Founded on January 12, 1777, the first site for Mission Santa Clara was sanctified by Padre Junipero Serra, first Presidente of the California missions. The location had been selected earlier by Spanish adventurer and trailblazer Juan Bautista de Anza, a soldier best known for breaking an overland route from New Spain (Mexico) to the San Francisco Bay. The “El Camino Real” (King’s Highway) cut by De Anza opened further development of missions far to the north by allowing the flow of supplies by horse and cart. Previously, the missions could only be resupplied by sea.</p><p>The mission could have been completed a year earlier and shortly after Mission San Francisco, but a Native American uprising farther south Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa interrupted construction. The original site was lush and well disposed to agriculture. The first Franciscan friars dubbed i Mission Santa Clara de Thamien, referring to a local Native tribe, the Tamyans, though the mission also drew labor and neophytes from the Ohlone and Costanoan tribes.</p><p>In 1779, however, Santa Clara de Thamien was damaged by floods, fire and earthquakes. The mission was moved temporarily to a location nearby and renamed Mission Santa Clara de Asis as a new permanent site was scouted. Santa Clara’s third iteration was built in 1784 and lasted through several more fires and floods until 1818, when a final earthquake resulted in new location and yet another reconstruction.</p><p>During these first 34 years, the mission’s purpose of converting Native Californians to Catholicism was well-served: Santa Clara led all other missions in conversions. As the mission grew, however, it ran afoul of nearby Pueblo de San Jose over property and water rights. A new road lined with Black willows, the Alameda, built by 200 hundred Indians, was required to mitigate the conflict and concerns from the padres that the mission’s population was in danger of corruption from worldly life in the pueblo.</p><p> </p><p>After the devastating 1818 earthquake, the mission moved a fourth time, to where present-day Santa Clara University’s &nbsp;Kenna Hall now resides. In 1825, a new and larger adobe was constructed nearby. This fifth location would be the permanent home for the mission.</p><p>It was not long before trouble came again. After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1822, voices clamoring for the secularization of the missions gained momentum within the new Mexican government, where many felt that the Franciscan padres still owed allegiance to Spain. One by one, control of the missions was removed from the monastic Franciscan orders. The secularization law provided that half the mission property be distributed among the Indians and half controlled by a lay (non-religious) administrator. Because there were so few secular priests in California, the Franciscans stayed on at the missions as parish priests and were allowed to retain the buildings in the mission quadrangles. Secularization did not, however, go according to plan. Native Americans were quickly defrauded of their lands and livestock. At Santa Clara, American squatters quickly seized mission property. All over California, mission buildings fell into disrepair, and in some cases the fate of Native peoples was even worse than the forced labor and cultural oppression of the mission system.</p><p>From the 1830s to 1851, Santa Clara served as a simple parish church. The community around it grew during the Gold Rush and the mission was transformed into a Jesuit university, but was deemed inadequate for the needs of the new American state of California. A new university was built around the mission, which remains a Jesuit institution today. The mission itself was renovated to serve as the new university chapel. Though both school and mission suffered financially the first few years, with wealthy backers and help from the US government conditions had improved by 1861.</p><br></span>

The 8th of 21 missions established in California, Mission Santa Clara was ruined and rebuilt six times, and relocated on five separate occasions. Its final location now resides within Santa Clara University, California's oldest college, where it serves as the university's main chapel. In addition to being the second mission established in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was also the first mission named after a woman: Saint Clare of Assisi.

Mission Santa Clara de Asis (CA Mission #8)

<div>Designed in 1875, the Andrew J. Landrum House exists as a prominent period piece, which helps define the architectural quality of the Old Quad area of Santa Clara. Andrew Landrum, a noted Santa Clara carpenter, designed his T-shaped house by drawing from both the then-popular Italianate and Gothic Revival styles that he had found in pattern books.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Notable features of the house include its corner quoins, the Italianate porch with scroll brackets, gables with cross-bracing and the cruciform interior plan, and the results of the T-shape design consisting of crossed, steeply gabled rooflines. The brick chimney ties the house together, and it is believed to have remained entirely intact after the 1906 San Fransisco earthquake.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Though not much is known about Landrum, his house speaks to his influence in early Santa Clara history; less than 2,500 people called Santa Clara home when Landrum purchased the plot of land in 1874. Landrum was advertised as a carpenter in the Santa Clara County Directory while "Landrum, Miss M. 1217 Santa Clara Avenue" was included in the Social Directory of 1903, one of only twenty-nine women listed in the directory, alluding to the caliber of their (elevated) social status.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>No significant modifications have changed the building since Landrum designed the house, and it remains one of Santa Clara's oldest and best-preserved houses.</div>

Though Santa Clara and the Silicon Valley are now famous for its role in the technological revolution, the Landrum House stands as an example of innovation pre-dating the invention of the computer.  Landrum, a carpenter, constructed the house in 1875. The home is an example of eclecticism in architectural styles; he combined the then-popular Italianate and Carpenter Gothic styles in his "T" shaped plan for the house. It is believed the Landrum House was one of the few Santa Clara buildings whose chimney to survive the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. 

Andrew Landrum House

Local historians believe the adobe structure at 373 Jefferson Street was built by Juan Chrisostomo Galindo, one of the earliest colonists to arrive in the Santa Clara Valley. There is some speculation, however, that the building might have been used as a jail for disruptive Indian field hands.<br><br>The home was purchased by the Berryessa family in 1861. After being purchased by the Berryessa family, the home changed owners several times. In 1970, it was recognized by the Santa Clara Historical Landmarks Commission and was purchased by the city in 1997.<br>

Built in the late 1840s, the Berryessa Adobe is one of only two historic adobe homes constructed prior to California statehood. There were once hundreds of adobe homes in what is now Santa Clara County, but now there are only two and this is the only one that is fully intact. This historic adobe home is the oldest residential structure in San Jose and is owned by the city. The home was acquired by the city in 1997. After yeasts of restoration efforts, the Berryessa Adobe opened in 2004 as a local history museum containing artifacts and documents relating to California's colonial period. 

Berryessa Adobe, San Jose 

<div>Charles Copeland Morse (1842–1900) arrived in California from Maine in 1859 as one of the multitudes lured by the California Gold Rush. Like most private miners, he eventually put aside dreams of finding gold and instead sought a new career. Nonetheless, the goal of striking-it-rich proved to be attainable by following a second plan that involved innovation rather than extraction. After moving to&nbsp;Santa Clara in 1862, Morse worked as a painter and then became interested in developing seeds. As a result, he eventually became known as "American Seed King," co-founding the Ferry-Morse Seed Company. In the decades that followed, this company became&nbsp;the world's leading flower and vegetable seed producer.</div><div><br></div><div>Morse grew up on a family farm in Thomaston, Maine. He was born to Obadiah and Chloe Morse in 1842, both descendants of a long line of English Puritans. Sadly, his father died when he was four and Charles spent his childhood working on the farm until he was seventeen when he left for a short-term stay in England. Upon his return, his interest in the California Gold rush inspired the young man to&nbsp;travel west to California.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Rather than traverse the length of what is now the contiguous U.S., Morse joined many other Americans on the East Coast by&nbsp;traveling&nbsp;to California via ship.&nbsp;As would be the case with most would be gold miners, the dream of striking it rich quickly proved chimerical. In&nbsp;1862, Morse put mining life behind him and moved to Santa Clara where he worked several jobs including painting houses. After painting homes for a dozen years he discovered an interest in seeds.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>In 1877, Morse seized on an opportunity that would reward him financially -- he and his business partner, A.L. Kellogg, purchased a small plot of farming land from R. W. Wilson for $20,000. The transaction included the acquisition of a few Eastern seed firm clients, a small warehouse and materials such as drying sheets cleaning machines and a few farming tools. It wouldn't be long before that small plot of land transitioned into the Ferry-Morse Seed Company, one of the largest vegetable and flower seed growers and supplies in the world.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Construction on the three-story Morse home finished in 1892, built as a classic Queen Anne Victorian. The house includes a raised basement, twin gables, witches' hat turret, and a host of ornate decor.&nbsp; The mansion's inside is adorned with elegant wood molding, stained glass windows, and chandeliers.&nbsp; Morse lived in the home with his wife, Maria Josephine Victoria, who he married in 1868, and five children. A local newspaper at the time described the mansion as "the house that seed built."</div>

Constructed in 1892 by wealthy entrepreneur Charles Copeland Morse (1842–1900) this home demonstrates the importance of agriculture to the growth of the region at the turn of the century.  Morse arrived in California from Maine in 1859 as one of the many future residents who were attracted to California as a result of the Gold Rush, but it was not precious metals that brought him fortune, but rather agriculture. His 1877 purchase of a small farm led to the formation of the Ferry-Morse Seed Company, which became the world's leading flower and vegetable seed producer. The mansion was built in 1892 and the local newspaper at the time gave the home its future nickname as "The house that seed built." 

Charles Copeland Morse House

The battle was the result of the increasing tensions between the Californios, the Mexican inhabitants the Santa Clara area, and&nbsp;American immigrants who were&nbsp;encroaching on the Mexicans' lands. The spark for the battle occurred when six American sailors, who went ashore to buy food from the Mexicans,&nbsp;were taken hostage. <br><br>The event, nicknamed the Battle of the Mustard Stalks because it began in a mustard field,&nbsp;&nbsp;was really more of a skirmish than an actual battle. It lasted only two hours and there were no deaths.&nbsp;<br><br>As a result, an American force was sent to rescue the sailors who were eventually released after negotiations. Another marker nearby indicates the location where the formal surrender and release took place.&nbsp;<br><br>There is an interesting side note to the battle at Santa Clara. One of the battle's participants was James Reed, one of the leaders of the doomed Donner Party. Reed was in the area to attempt to secure a relief party for the trapped remnants of his party, but had difficulties as many of the able-bodied men were fighting in the war.&nbsp;

Between January 2-7, 1847, Mexican and American forces fought in a skirmish that was nicknamed the "Battle of the Mustard Stalks." It was the only battle during the Mexican-American War fought in Northern California. It received its nicknamed because the American forces were in a mustard field when the Mexicans opened fire. A historical marker indicates the location of the skirmish. The actual battle only lasted a couple of hours on the first day but negotiations lasted for the full five days. Four Mexican soldiers died and four were wounded; only two Americans were injured.

West San Jose and Santa Clara Historical Driving Tour

South Bay Historical Railroad Society (Santa Clara Tower)

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

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