There is a marvelous old house on the corner of San Benito
Street and Palmtag Drive in Hollister.
A very well-maintained two-story home in the Craftsman style, it
has been lovingly maintained over the years
– it shows what real estate people like to describe in their ads
as
”
real pride of ownership.
”
There is a marvelous old house on the corner of San Benito Street and Palmtag Drive in Hollister.
A very well-maintained two-story home in the Craftsman style, it has been lovingly maintained over the years – it shows what real estate people like to describe in their ads as “real pride of ownership.”
Inside, the home is all warm wood, comfy antiques and wavy glass. It’s a big place, and it has never suffered the indignities foisted upon many older homes – it’s never been chopped up into apartments, never had its rich woodwork painted, never had its beautiful wood floors covered with tacky linoleum or cheap nylon carpet.
A “For Sale” sign marred the otherwise meticulous landscaping of the front yard for many months last year – it’s gone now.
One day the sign sported a cheery “Open House!” Being suckers for old houses, my wife and I had to go in and join the many, dreaded “looky-loos” that those who sell property must absolutely loathe.
After being made to provide name, address and phone number (in this case, done as much for the ability to track down people who might damage the contents of the home as for marketing purposes), we oohed and aahed our way through the house, marveling at this or that detail.
All that was interesting, but my ears really perked up when the salesperson told us the name of the man who had built the structure in the 1890s: one of San Benito County’s pioneer wine businessmen, William Palmtag.
In addition to being a winemaker, Mr. Palmtag was a very important and influential man in these parts. A native of Baden, Germany, he came to California when he was 17 as a miner and prospector.
Finding that occupation unable to provide a reliable income, he turned to farming near Salinas. He then moved to Watsonville and got involved in the brewing business.
I like to think that he had grown nostalgic for the excellent suds available in his native land, and thought there would be a market for them here.
A few years after embarking on the brewery business, Palmtag came to Hollister and purchased a large parcel of land from one Theophile Vaché.
A French immigrant, Vaché had founded a vineyard and winery on Cienega Road in 1854, schlepping his product in a wagon to San Juan Bautista to sell it.
Palmtag expanded the vineyard to 150 acres, and greatly improved the facilities, building a cellar from brick made on the premises and increasing production, making it the largest operation in the area.
I wasn’t able to determine what varietals Palmtag grew, but a book, History of the State of California and Biographical Record of Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties (Man! They just don’t come up with snappy book titles like that anymore.) by Professor J.M. Guinn, A.M., Copyright 1902, Chapman Publishing, describes the cellar as having “a capacity of one hundred and forty thousand gallons, enabling the owner thereof to keep his port, sherry, and muscatel wines for four or five years.”
So the case could be argued that William Palmtag is the father – at least figuratively if not literally – of the modern San Benito County wine industry.
In addition, by all indications Mr. Palmtag was one crackerjack businessman. He founded the Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank in 1891 with capital of $75,000 and was that institution’s president for many years.
The following year he organized the Hollister Savings Bank and ran that too. He was a director of many local businesses, including the Hollister Storage Company and the Hollister Water Company, and was president of the Hollister Light and Power Company and the Hollister Creamery.
Not satisfied with all that, William Palmtag was also a tireless (he’d have had to be!) public servant.
A lifelong Democrat, he served as a San Benito County Supervisor, Hollister City Councilman and Hollister Mayor.
He was instrumental in getting the streets of Hollister “macadamized,” (a word used by J.M. Guinn, A.M.) and he was the guiding light behind the Hollister sewer system. Well, well. I have a feeling that Mr. Palmtag is looking down on his little town with just a bit of disappointment about the current state of two of his pet projects.
Despite all of his accomplishments, all that he did for the then-fledgling town of Hollister and San Benito County, the only public acknowledgement of William Palmtag that I know of is the name of a one-block street between San Benito and Monterey Streets.
That seems a bit of a shame, and certainly not fitting for a man of such great accomplishment.
