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Downtown San Jose You're Invited

San Jose History

Spanish explorers called Californa's first civil settlement el Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe in 1777, when 15 families totaling 66 people moved from the Presidio in San Francisco onto the eastern bank of the Guadalupe River near what is now Hedding, First and Hobson streets.

For four years, the small settlement remained the only pueblo in Alta California.

By 1799, settlers moved a mile upstream to simmer a land dispute with missionaries in Santa Clara, and to a place where the river posed less of a flood threat. The area they inhabited extended from about St. John Street to a little south of San Carlos Street, and from Market Street to San Pedro Street. The Peralta Adobe still stands as a reminder of the city's origins. Downtown San Jose was born.

The first settlement was seen as an ideal place to raise crops for the presidios in San Francisco and Monterey. Later on, it grew into the center of commerce for a thriving agricultural region known as "The Valley of Heart's Delight," full of stone fruits such as apricots, peaches, plums and nectarines. Orchards sitting on up to 12 feet of rich topsoil delivered by the river and Coyote Creek produced some of the best fruit in the world. As San Jose grew, the orchards disappeared.

En route to leaving its agrarian heritage behind, San Jose served as the first capital of California while under American rule – in 1849, two years before California joined the union. The town was bustling by the time California's Gold Rush brought thousands of new explorers and adventurers from the East Coast. Thomas Fallon, who made his fortune through traditional business means and then became mayor, built his home, which also still stands, in 1855.

Through the years, natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, plus arson and accidental fires have caused historic buildings to be destroyed and new structures built. But glimpses of San Jose's past are still prevalent, including the shape of Plaza de Cesar Chavez, the landmark Bank of America building and bunches of 100-plus-year-old buildings and churches around St. James Park and along First and Second Street between Santa Clara and San Fernando streets.

Technology replaced farming after World War II, when soldiers returned home, earned college degrees in engineering and focused on the emerging electronics industry – leading to the birth of Silicon Valley.

Post-war downtown has grown into what you see today. The San Jose Redevelopment Agency has invested more than $1 billion into downtown. Developers have painstakingly restored and renovated charming historic architecture damaged from earthquakes or years of neglect. And downtown property and business owners continue to invest in downtown.

Visionaries see downtown streets becoming increasingly active with sidewalk cafes, roving street artists and musicians, pedicabs, street vendors, and an artistic 21st century icon that replaces a light tower that straddled Market and Santa Clara streets in the early 1900s.