John Sinnott Elementary School and Sinnott Lane

School Name Stories: The John Sinnott Elementary School, at 2025 Yellowstone Ave., and the Sinnott Lane mentioned in this month’s article (April 2017 Milpitas Muse) about the train station were both named after John Sinnott, a pioneer Milpitas settler, who was born in Ireland in 1800.

John Sinnott immigrated to Quebec, Canada in 1831, where he met and married his wife, Elizabeth (Bolger), who was a sister of Mrs. Martin Murphy, of the well-known Murphy family, who crossed the plains in 1844, the first of the American settlers from the east to make it across the mountains to California.

In 1851, John Sinnott brought his wife and children west by way of sailing ships and trekking across the Isthmus of Panama (the Panama Canal was not built yet). He settled in Mountain View, renting a farm from his brother-in law, Martin Murphy.

In 1856 John bought land in Milpitas, successfully farmed and raised stock, and became a prominent and contributory member of the community. He died in 1883, followed shortly thereafter by his wife.

Milpitas Muse, September 2012: Trisha Crowder Descendant of John Sinnott

John and Elizabeth Sinnott had three daughters, Catherine and Mary, who became nuns, and Ellen, who, with John’s two sons, Thomas and Patrick, lived and worked on the ranch and eventually inherited it. Also, they were highly respected members of the community. In 1887, Thomas married Ella Twohig, and they had seven children, two of whom died young, two became nuns, and the others became teachers.

Question: Do you recognize this building or know where in Milpitas it stood?

Answer: The mystery building in this photo (shown in the March 2017 Milpitas Muse),  was the last Southern Pacific Railroad Station in Milpitas. The railroad station

was located a few hundred feet south of Sinnott Lane (branching east from Main Street opposite the old St. John the Baptist Church) on the west side of the railroad tracks. In those days, some will remember the Kinney Shoe store on South Main Street with the station hidden behind it.

The photo was taken in July 1967 by renowned local railroad photographer Wesley L. Hammond.

Was the current street Hammond Way (running alongside the east side of the tracks from East Curtis Avenue) named after the photographer?

Probably, but this is something that we are trying to confirm for historical accuracy.