GILROY
– Jonathan Young carefully studied the words carved in stone
over the Gilroy Museum entrance.
”
GILROY FREE LIBRARY,
”
he read.
GILROY – Jonathan Young carefully studied the words carved in stone over the Gilroy Museum entrance. “GILROY FREE LIBRARY,” he read.
Saturday morning, the El Roble Elementary School fifth grader and his family met at the museum’s front steps for a leisurely stroll to catch a glimpse of Gilroy history.
The regularly scheduled weekend walk, led by Gilroy Historical Society member Connie Rogers, is designed to inform history buffs and families about the city’s lively past.
Rogers pointed out various aspects of the museum’s classic-revival design. She told the group it was constructed in 1910 for $10,000 donated by a man who never set foot in the small farming town. Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who made a fortune in steel in the 19th century, gave a portion of his vast wealth to erect the building as a public library, she said.
“Mr. Carnegie, when he got older, realized he should give back to the country he lived in,” Rogers told the group.
Gilroy and other communities throughout America received funds from the Carnegie Foundation to build free public libraries. Borrowing books without cost was a unique concept at the turn of the century and dramatically changed people’s lives, she said.
The group continued on to discover more of Gilroy’s past, stopping occasionally to learn about various local landmarks.
The site of the present Wheeler Civic Auditorium on Church Street was once a lumber mill where redwood timber was cut into boards. It was owned by a man with the amiable name of Pleasant Hodges, Rogers said.
In the “Little Baja” area of downtown Gilroy’s southern section, she told the group about the Chinatown that once thrived, before it burned to the ground.
At the railroad depot, the tour group gathered around a paving stone with the date 1918 carved into it. Rogers described the history of the depot, an important part of Gilroy’s past. The original depot building was constructed in 1869 by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Gilroy and San Benito County farmers brought their produce here to ship to other parts of the state.
As Gilroy grew, the first depot became too small for convenient use. Citizens asked the railroad officials for a larger, more modern depot building, but the request was denied. Finally, in 1917, civic leaders went to Sacramento to meet with the Railroad Commission to force a new modern station house.
Along Monterey Street, Rogers pointed out various former hotels that had served railroad passengers. Among them was the Milias Hotel, occupied now by apartments and the Harvest Time Restaurant. George Milias, a successful restaurant owner, commissioned famous architect William Weeks to build an elegant modern hotel on the site. It was completed in 1921 in a Mediterranean Revival style for $250,000. In its heyday during the Jazz Age, patrons danced on a rooftop garden, Rogers noted.
The Old City Hall, kitty-corner from the former Milias Hotel, is a true Gilroy landmark.
“Try to imagine Monterey Street in 1900,” Rogers told the tour. “It was a dirt street. It was pretty darn dusty down here.” According to Rogers, Mayor George Dunlap told the City Council, “We need to get this place looking like something, it’s pretty down and out.”
The building was designed in a “whimsical” Flemish Baroque style, she said. Prominently carved on the side are the numerals “1905,” the date of its completion.
The building had a multitude of uses, Rogers said. Beside civic meetings, it was also used as a jail, a courtroom and judge chamber, a police department and a storage site where a bucket-brigade volunteer fire company could keep equipment.
Across the street from the Old City Hall, Rogers pointed out a store now known as Ruby’s, but fondly remembered by long-time residents as Hall’s Western Wear. The life-sized model of a cowboy is based on Casey Tibbs and his horse “War Paint,” symbols of the Gilroy Gymkhana, a popular annual fiesta celebrating the town’s ranching heritage.
“It was a big deal, just like we have the Garlic Festival today,” Rogers said. “Gilroy was kind of a cowtown.”
Gilroy purchased its first motorized fire engine in 1916, and it was kept at the Station 55 firehouse on Fifth Street. Today, the building is Happy Dog Pizza Company. Restaurant owner Steve Gearing proudly showed the tour group around the inside, pointing out old photos of firefighting days of times past. A brass pole that firemen once slid down still stands near the restaurant cash register.
The tour ended back at the history museum’s steps.
This is the fourth Gilroy history tour Geoff Cady, Priscilla Young and their sons Jonathan and Eric Young have taken. They moved to the community a year ago from San Diego, and the two-hour tours have helped them get to know their new home better, Cady said.
Eric, a senior at Gilroy High School, enjoyed Saturday’s tour, describing it as the best of the four they’ve taken so far.
“The history is so amazing,” he said. “And going into the old buildings was really fun.”
His brother Jonathan agreed. “We get to see all the different types of houses,” he said. “It’s really great because you get to learn about history.”
