The family that lived in the historic Wilson house returned home
Tuesday to find ashes and chared wreakage where a small piece of
Gilroy’s history once stood.
Phillip Molnar – Special to the Dispatch
GILROY
The family that lived in the historic Wilson house returned home Tuesday to find ashes and chared wreakage where a small piece of Gilroy’s history once stood.
John Newcomb, who lives at the residence with his wife, mother-in-law and daughter, said “nothing is salvageable” at the historic site but is working on getting power back to the rest of the property.
In addition to the property damage, the fire also claimed the lives of the Newcomb’s two dogs.
Newcomb declined to say how the family was coping, but said the most important thing “is that my wife and her mom got out safely.” The daughter was not in the house at the time of the fire.
CalFire Battalion Chief Ken McGeaver estimated the home was worth “at least $300,000 to 400,000” but declined to comment on the land’s value as a whole.
The three-story Victorian era home and barn, located at 1980 Pacheco Pass, was one of the first brick homes built in the Santa Clara Valley, according to the Library of Congress.
The brick-mason Horace Wilson built the home using the first bricks created in Santa Clara County, possibly in California. The home was constructed in 1859 with bricks made on the property.
The home featured a prominent railed balcony along the front and gothic windows at the third floor level.
Newcomb declined to comment on what the property could be worth and most appraisers refuse to make any assumptions on a property of such historic significance.
Gilroy Historical Society president Connie Rogers said the home was “irreplaceable.”
“Horace Wilson was one of the first permanent residents in this area of the country,” she said. Evidence of the Wilson name can be seen all over Gilroy (although it is unclear where else Wilson’s bricks were used). Rogers has seen gravemarkers belonging to the Wilson family in Gilroy cemeteries.
Newcomb said a smaller brick home (most likely built by Wilson) and several other structures on the property survived the fire.
The blaze was first reported at 7:30 p.m. Sunday and required more than 30 firefighters to extinguish the blaze, some of whom came from as far away as San Jose. It was not until 9 a.m. Tuesday that the last of the CalFire battalion firefighters left the scene.
Battalion Chief McGeaver said the fire is still under investigation and that there is no evidence of arson.
