The American Cyclopædia (1879)/San José (California)

SAN JOSÉ, a city and the county seat of Santa Clara co., California, at the intersection of the Southern Pacific railroad with the San José branch of the Central Pacific line, 8 m. S. E. of San Francisco bay, and 40 m. S. E. of San Francisco; pop. in 1870, 9,089, of whom 8,755 were foreigners, including 714 Chinese; in 1875, estimated by local authorities at 15,000. The main portion of the city occupies a gently rising plateau, between the Coyote and Guadalupe rivers (small streams emptying into the bay), here 1½ m. apart, with suburbs extending some distance beyond them. It is handsomely laid out, lighted with gas, and well supplied with water, and has a good fire department. Horse cars run through the main streets. The principal public buildings are the court house, a massive Corinthian structure costing $200,000, with a dome commanding a fine view; the jail adjoining it, the finest in the state, costing $80,000; the state normal school building, in the centre of Washington square, erected at a cost of more than $200,000; the city hall ; two markets, costing more than $40,000 each; eight public school buildings; and ten churches, the largest and most expensive being an unfinished edifice belonging to the Roman Catholics. There are three public parks, containing 2, 8, and 30 acres respectively. The city owns a tract of 400 acres in Penitencia cañon, 7 m. E., reserved for a public park, containing a wild rocky gorge with a mountain stream and a variety of mineral springs. The climate is mild and equable, and the surrounding country yields grain and fruits abundantly. Slight earthquake shocks are not uncommon. The city contains a woollen mill, three founderies and machine shops, three flouring mills, three planing mills, five or six carriage factories, three breweries, three distilleries, two large fruit-drying establishments, one fruit-canning establishment, three candy factories, two glove factories, a broom factory, a tannery, a starch factory, and a furniture factory. The banking institutions are a national gold bank and three banks of discount and deposit, with savings departments; aggregate capital, $2,350,000. The public schools are graded. The college of Notre Dame (Roman Catholic), a day and boarding school for girls, founded in 1851 and incorporated in 1855, has a fine building and extensive grounds. The San José institute and business college, a day and boarding school for both sexes, founded in 1862, has commodious buildings. At Santa Clara, 3 m. W., is Santa Clara college, under the management of the Jesuits, founded in 1851 and incorporated in 1855. It occupies a number of elegant buildings in an enclosure of about 12 acres. Between Santa Clara and the city is the university of the Pacific (Methodist Episcopal), connected with which is a young ladies' seminary. The university was founded in 1852, and has been recently removed from Santa Clara. San José has an opera house seating 1,200, and an elegant and commodious music hall. The San José library association, incorporated in 1872, has 4,000 volumes. Three daily and three weekly newspapers and a monthly periodical are published. There are Baptist, Episcopal, Friends', Jewish, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic churches, and a Unitarian society.—San José was settled by the Spaniards before 1800, but remained merely a collection of adobe huts till after the cession of the country to the United States. The legislature of California held its first session here in the winter of 1849-'50, and assembled here again the following winter, but soon removed to Vallejo.