Here are a few more place names.
LOS ALTOS- The name literally translates at "The Hills" which might make one wonder about its neighbor "Los ALtos Hills". The town is located on Rancho Purisima Concepcion. It is a comparatively new, up scale community. Much of the town rests on property that was formerly part of the old Saint Josephs Seminary.
LOS GATOS- The town is situated on Rancho Rinconada de los Gatos, which translated to "cat's corner". It was named this because of the prevalent wild cats and lynx in surrounding hills. The town was also once known as Forbes Mill.
LICK OBSERVATORY- Once the world's largest telescope. It was opened to the public in 1888 and later deeded to the Regents of the Universtiy of California.
MADRONE- Was once known as 18 mile house south of San Jose. Named for native madrone (strawberry) tree.
MAYFIELD- Now part of Palo Alto. It started in 1853 with a road house and a saloon. The town was established in 1867, with the coming of the railroad. Many of us remember when a big shopping trip was to The Mayfield Mall, now a Hewlett Packard facility.
MILPITAS- The word means "little corn fields". On the old "Oakland Highway" it was for decades a sleepy farming community, after being founded as a tiny village in 1856. It is now wide awake, enjoying one of the highest median incomes in The Valley.
MONTE VISTA- This area is rapidly being gobbled up by Cupertino, but used to be the community at the end of Stevens Creek Boulevard. It came in to existence in 1907 with the extension of the Peninsula Railroad to Palo Alto.
MORGAN HILL- The town was established on Rancho Ojo de Agua de la Coche in 1892. It was incorporated in 1906. It was named for Morgan Hill who married Diana Murphy.
MOUNTAIN VIEW- Old Mountain View was James Campbell's San Francisco stage stop in 1852. The new Mountain View was established in 1856 with the coming of the railroad. It is all one city now.(And home to The Shoreline Ampitheather.)
NEW CHICAGO- A great city (on paper)in the late 1880's, nationally advertised, located on Alviso lowlands. Some mail order buyers found there lots via a rowboat at low tide. A short lived watch factory was the only activity in town.
PALO ALTO- The name means "high tree". Located on the banks of Arroyo San Francisquito on Southern Pacific Railroad. Caspas de Portola camped here in 1769. The city dates back to 1889 and founding of Stanford University.
PATCHEN- This was a pioneer post office for Santa Cruz Mountains, established in 1872. It was located at the junction of Mountain Charley Road and Old Santa Cruz Turnpike.
PENITENCIA- Small creek flowing out of Alum Rock Canyon. Once spot where mission padres heard confessions. The name is thought to come form here.
SAN FELIPE- This tiny settlement was in a valley ten miles East of Gilroy. It reached its peak in 1876 with a post office, store, tobacco farm and factory making cigars. It is gone today.
SAN JOSE- Originally known as El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe, it was founded November 29, 1777. It is California's oldest civil settlement. It was the first State Capitol in 1849.
SAN MARTIN (Saint Martin) A community on Rancho San Francisco de las Llagas between Morgan Hill and Gilroy. It took its name from a chapel built by Martin Murphy, Sr. honoring his patron saint during Murphy's settlement of this area.
SAN YSIDRO- Pioneers called it "Old Gilroy". It was a settlement two miles East of the present Gilroy. No record of when it came into existence but it had an adobe hotel, post office, blacksmith, school and cheese factory. There are still a few traces of this town left, but not many.
SANTA CLARA- The town was named after the mission that was established in 1777. It was settled by the arrival of the first immigrants in 1846. It was surveyed in 1850 and 23 houses were brought around the horn. This was quickly followed by a post office, flour mill, Methodist Church and college. The town government was organized in 1852. It became a famous fruit packing center with the name "Santa Clara" better known in East than in San Jose. The Mission is the 18th of the 21 California Missions, first built on the banks of Thee Guadalupe River. Floods, earthquakes and fire resulted in building of five missions at various locations. The college, now university was founded by Rev. John Nobili, SJ in 1851. (The college is a "must see" for visitors to this area.)
SARATOGA- Originally a lumber town with William Campbell and Sons, pioneers of 1846, building a sawmill on the creek near the long bridge in 1848. The town has had four names, Toll Gate, Bankmill, McCarthysville and Saratoga. The last after the town of Saratoga, New York.
STANFORD- The university was named in memory of Leland Stanford, Jr., the only child of Govenor Stanford of California. The school opened to students in 1891. For an interesting story about how the university came to be, click here.
SUNNYVALE- Once called Murphy's Station because of Martin Murphy, Jr's vast holdings. (His home is now a city museum.) IUt was also called Encical around 1898. It became Sunnyvale and incorporated in 1912.
TENNANT- A flagstop on the Southern Pacifie Railroad, South of San Jose.
UVAS- The word means grapes, and is used for a South Valley Creek and a district. Wild grapes still grow along the creek.
VASONA- Now a 152-acre Copunty Park, it was named for a pony owned by the farmer who lived near here in the 1890's.
WILLOW GLEN- This area was always called "The Willows" by early settlers because when discovered by pioneers, it was a forest of impenetrable, giant willows and wild blackberries. The only passage ways were trails made by wild cattle. Once cleared, it exposed the richest soil in The Valley, producing the finest fruits, berries and vegetables.