Tag Archives: california

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

 

Follow up – The Way to San Felipe

The Way to San Felipe, our previous article , talked all about this old Spanish Road and what it connected.  I got a little more clarity from an Evergreen Native who knows it from experience.

hb267nb0kh-FID7White Road changes to San Felipe as it crosses Aborn Road.  It cut in half Rancho Pala, which was purchased by Charles White, who arrived in town in 1833.  Only a sliver of this Rancho makes it into our Evergreen borders.  Rancho Pala ends at Norwood Avenue.

Further down the road, present day Aborn Road has had many names, Evergreen Road, Chew Lane and Aborn Road.  That inconsistency makes orienting yourself on different maps a little difficult.  It is at the intersection of Evergreen Road and White/San Felipe Road where the town of Evergreen really developed.  You’d never know it by the looks of it today.

Quimby and Tully Roads have switched spots and Capitol Expressway is a fairly new roadway.  This makes it rough, too, but it’s okay.  We’re talking about San Felipe Road here.

san felipe roadsPreviously, I worked the current Google map of San Felipe Road against an old Spanish Survey to Rancho San Felipe.  They were close enough for me to feel like I was looking at the same roads.  I accounted for some inaccuracies because it’s so old.  The lake is Lake Cunningham, but ought to point North and doesn’t.  The compass notes rather where water flows down from.

1876 MapAlso, in 1800’s versions of Evergreen maps, San Felipe Road travels next to a creek bed and I couldn’t think of where that would be.  The Creek is closer to Kettmann Road and the Evergreen Library Branch.  But when I sat down with Evergreen’s Judge Jerry Kettmann, he brought a little more light to the subject and old geography.  This is a 1876 Map of Evergreen.

P1310197Judge Kettmann’s uncle, Andy Kettmann owned a Saloon located on San Felipe Road.  There are some pretty awesome tales out of the Saloon, but I won’t be spoiling those or Jerry’s interview for you at this time.  His Honor comes from a long line of colorful characters, though.  He took me for a little drive and helped me get an understanding for what “Downtown” Evergreen was.  This is a Map from 1902, true to North.

Map 004, Saratoga, Evergreen, Santa Clara, San Antonio, MountaiThe Smiths were the first family to have moved into town in 1866.  Charles C. Smith and his brother, born in Germany in the 1840’s, bought large tracts of land from the Yerba Buena land grant, with Evergreen Road dead ending at White/San Felipe Road originally.  The Stephens/Stevens family were next, making up the original Plat of Evergreen.  Francis Joe Smith owned and operated the General Store and was postmaster.  His brother was the town blacksmith, and the blacksmith shop is where Hinman’s Garage is today.  His daughter Katherine, for which there’s a school named, was a beloved teacher.  L. C. Smith’s house still stands today.  Their homes and businesses were right off San Felipe Road between Aborn Road and Yerba Buena Avenue.

P1310192Speaking of teachers, the location of the school house was a mystery to me.  From Barry Swenson’s describing of it, I still couldn’t place it.  I have photos of it, but there’s no evidence of it anywhere.  It’s here at the intersection directly adjacent to the Kettmann property.  There’s a reason.  Where the Valero Gas Station and shopping center currently sit, the Evergreen School House once stood.  The odd curvy street behind the Wells Fargo, Keaton Loop, was once San Felipe Road.  And the bridge over the Creek between Keaton Loop and the Cadwallader neighborhood was a busy path into town.  The Cadwallader Subdivisions was once of the first concentrations of developments in Evergreen.

The reason the maps didn’t line up perfectly was because this path had been revised for a more direct route with better flood control.