Red barn facing Christmas Hill Park to be replaced with a
community center resembling the historic structure
Gilroy – An historic red barn believed to date back to the days of cattle baron Henry Miller could be demolished within a year as part of long-term plans for the ranch site facing Christmas Hill Park.
City staff are crafting a master plan for the area that envisions replacing the barn with a community center closely resembling the original design. The new center would house classrooms, a kitchen and an assembly area. Officials expect it will cost between $3.5 million and $4.2 million, though they say it will be at least five years before the project gets off the ground.
In the meantime, the city is moving forward with plans to document the history of the barn before tearing it down.
The structure stood on the ranch when the Filice family purchased the land in 1935, according to research by city staff. The barn housed horses and served as recreational space until the late ’50s, when the Filice family began using the barn to store equipment needed to cultivate its orchards and vineyards.
The city acquired the property from the Filice family in 1990, according to Roberta Hughan, chair of the Historic Heritage Committee and Gilroy Mayor at the time of the purchase.
“There was a chance they were going to develop it, and we thought ‘Oh no, we better purchase the land,'” she recalled during a committee meeting Thursday.
She and other committee members believe the barn dates back at least to the late 1800s, when Henry Miller operated his cattle business on much of the land west of the city. Miller’s empire included 1.5 million acres of land across California, Oregon and Nevada.
In the next month, the committee plans to comb through old records to flesh out the barn’s history. The city plans to preserve the red planks and other wood used to construct the barn after tearing it down. Ideally, committee members hope to find someone to rebuild the structure elsewhere, though they are also planning more modest forms of preservation such as hanging photographs of the original barn in the future community center.
The fenced off barn now serves as storage space for the Garlic Festival, the city’s marquee summer event held on the park and ranch site at the end of July.
“Probably more pigeons call it home than humans use it,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said, adding that, “Certainly, if somebody came forward and wanted it, we would let them have it.”
The future community center falls at the bottom of the city’s wish list of public facilities, Baksa said. Higher up on the list are the downtown cultural arts facility and a new aquatics center and gymnasium for a second high school.
The new community center will serve as the centerpiece of long-range plans for the ranch site, according to Lee Steinmetz, a landscape architect working on an update of the area’s master plan.
Draft plans working their way through City Hall envision large grass areas that could serve as sports fields, open space, trail connections, and an area for a dog park or bike facility.
City Parks and Facilities Manager Bill Headley predicted the city would not tear down the barn for at least one year.
“Undoubtedly,” he said, “there will be a desire to document anything we have missed to date on its history.”
