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| Landmark #433 | Santa Clara County | Visited: August 27, 2016 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | A plaque outside the San José City Hall! |
| What makes it historical? | THE GUIDE SAYS: Within a year after the opening of the first overland route from Mexico to Alta California, Governor Felipe de Neve authorized establishment of California’s first civil settlement. Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga arrived in the Santa Clara Valley with 14 settlers and their families on November 29, 1777 to found El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe near the present civic center.
OTHER TIDBITS: The Spanish conquest of California came in three waves: military, spiritual, and civil. With presidios set up at Monterey and San Francisco, and the new Mission Santa Clara established on the Guadalupe River, it was time to bring in the farmers and ranchers to fuel the other two branches! Lieutenant Moraga divided up the land into plots for each family, but unfortunately, the area next to the Guadalupe River was very prone to floods! Eventually they moved the pueblo a mile south, and it became the birthplace of the cattle industry that would define an entire era of California’s history! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| Where is this place? | LISTED DIRECTIONS: Front parking lot planter City Hall 151 W Mission St San Jose, CA 95110 ANNOTATIONS: From Los Angeles: ~342mi (551km) — 5.7hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |