Milpitas Historical Society.org » History

Milpitas – How did it get it’s name?

Ann Zeise — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:45:05 +0000

Kraig Bunnell’s theory of the naming of Milpitas. He also talks about the origins of other names in our city.

Milpitas Street Name Stories: Evans Road

Ann Zeise — Sun, 08 May 2011 00:27:26 +0000

Evans Road, which marks the eastern boundary of residential Milpitas in many places, is named for Josiah Evans, one of our early settlers, who owned a ranch that bordered the road.

Evans came to Milpitas in 1853 from Ohio after a few years in the California gold fields, during which time he founded the Butte County city of Evansville. He bought 800 acres of Rancho Tularcitos land in 1853. His ranch was described in 1874 by a reporter for the San Jose Mercury as having fine orchards of fruit and nut trees. The present day road follows the same route as the historic road that served the ranches of the 1860s.

In 1862, his daughter, America Evans, married Samuel Ayer, another Milpitas pioneer rancher, who became a respected long-time county supervisor, for whom the first high school in Milpitas was named. That school (1959- 1980) was located at 1395 E. Calaveras Blvd, the current location of the Milpitas Sports Center.

Milpitas Street Name Stories-Dixon Landing

Ann Zeise — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:01:19 +0000

Dixon Landing Road, and Dixon Road, its continuation east of Highway 880, were named for Matthew Dixon, who came west for the gold rush, and in 1861 bought 600 acres of land, on both sides of the Santa Clara/Alameda county line, for his farm. The area was then known as Harrisburg. He built his house on the eastern side of the then-Mission Highway, and made a road down to the waterfront, where he and his neighbor, Captain Valpey, built rough docks for flat-bottomed, two-masted scow schooners to load hay, and grain from the Milpitas and surrounding areas. The landing was next to the former Fremont Airport.

The last existing scow schooner, the Alma, is on display at the Maritime Museum in San Francisco. Built in 1891, the Alma was found rotting on the Alviso mud flats and rescued in 1959 and was restored in by the state park service.

2010 Board Members

Ann Zeise — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:19:45 +0000

Officers:
Harriet McGuire, President, 262-7979
Barbara Bowman, Vice President, 942-1492
Bob Kruse, Treasurer
Margaret Kruse, Secretary
Bill Hare, Historian

Committee Chairs:
Barbara Bowman, Membership, Museum Maintenance, and Refreshments
Bob Kruse, Fire Truck
Dennis Cuciz, Police Car
Sherry Cullen, Newsletter
Bill Hare, Historian

Our Town Seal

Ann Zeise — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:32:50 +0000

The Milpitas Town Seal was the idea of member Betty McDermott’s husband John, who came up with the idea for a seal of the Minuteman from one of his son’s history books. He designed the seal and took it to Arnie’s Signs and had 4,000 decals made.

Joe Brown, a local painter, painted the original for free. It is believed that Mr. Brown may have been hired to repaint the statues in the old St. John’s Church. Mr. Brown lived on the Henry Strickroth/Murphy Ranch.