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San Jose's Historic Downtown (Images of America Series)

Name: San Jose's Historic Downtown (Images of America Series)
Author: Lauren Miranda Gilbert
ISBN: 9780738529226

by Lauren Miranda Gilbert, San Jose Public Library, Bob Johnson

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Overview

San Jose is the "Capital of the Silicon Valley," the high-rise, economic engine of advanced technology. Yet it was once a verdant valley, inhabited by wildlife, waterfowl, and the native Ohlone people. The Spanish who founded California's first civilian settlement here in 1777 named it for Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the Spanish Expedition. Their farms fed the soldiers at the Monterey and San Francisco presidios, beginning an agricultural industry that thrived for nearly 200 years. Although serving briefly as California's first state capital, for many decades downtown was the somewhat sleepy commercial center of the Santa Clara Valley. A housing and population expansion that began in the 1950s exploded with San Jose's rebirth as a technological mecca.

Synopsis

This slim book provides a photographic history of the California city first settled in 1777, and known today as the "Capital of Silicon Valley." Each page presents two captioned b&w historical photos of streets, buildings, and people. The photos, which span the period from the 1860s through 2005) were selected from the archives of the San Jose Public Library (where the two authors are both librarians), San Jose State University, and the Sourisseau Academy. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

About the Author, Lauren Miranda Gilbert

Co-authors Lauren Miranda Gilbert and Bob Johnson, librarians at the San Jose Public Library, have combed the extensive photographic archives of their own California Room, as well as San Jose State University Special Collections and the Sourisseau Academy.