Prior to western settlement, the area was inhabited by several groups of Ohlone Native Americans Though visited briefly by the English two centuries prior, the first lasting European presence began with a series of Franciscan missions established from 1769 by Father Junípero Serra. On orders from Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish Viceroy of New Spain, San Jose was founded by Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (in honor of Saint Joseph) on November 29, 1777, to establish a farming community. The town was the first civil settlement in Alta California.

In 1797, the pueblo was moved from its original location, near the present-day intersection of Guadalupe Parkway and Taylor Street, to a location in what is now Downtown San Jose. San Jose came under Mexican rule in 1825 after Mexico broke with the Spanish crown. It then became part of the United States, after it capitulated without bloodshed in 1846 and California was annexed. Soon afterwards, on March 27, 1850, San Jose became the first incorporated city in the state, with Josiah Belden its first mayor. The town was the state's first capital, as well as host of the first and second sessions (1850-1851) of the California Legislature.

Though not impacted as severely as San Francisco, San Jose suffered damage from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Over 100 people died at the Agnews Asylum (later Agnews State Hospital) after its walls and roof collapsed, and the San Jose High School's three-story stone was also destroyed. During World War II many Japanese were sent to internment camps and, following the Los Angeles zoot suit riots, anti-Mexican violence took place in the summer of 1943.

As World War II started, the city's economy shifted from agriculture (the Del Monte cannery was the largest employer) to industrial manufacturing with the contracting of the Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) by the United States War Department to build 1000 Landing Vehicle Tracked. After World War II, FMC (later United Defense, and currently BAE Systems) continued as a defense contractor, with the San Jose facilities designing and manufacturing military platforms such as the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and various subsystems of the M1 Abrams. IBM established its West Coast headquarters in San Jose in 1943 and opened a downtown research and development facility in 1952. Both would prove to be harbingers for the economy of San Jose, as Reynold Johnson and his team would later invent RAMAC, as well as the disc drive, and the technological side of San Jose's economy grew.

towards Mount Hamilton; hills in the background show their winter green color.]]

During the 1950s and 1960s, city manager Dutch Hamann led the city in a major growth campaign. The city annexed adjacent areas, such as Alviso and Cambrian Park, providing large areas for suburbs. An anti-growth reaction to the effects of rapid development emerged in the 1970s championed by mayors Norman Mineta and Janet Gray Hayes. Despite establishing an urban growth boundary, development fees, and incorporations of Campbell and Cupertino, development was not slowed, but rather directed into already incorporated areas.

Law and government

opened in 2005.]]

Local

San Jose is a charter city under California law, giving it the power to enact local ordinances that may conflict with state law, within the limits provided by the charter. The city has a council-manager government with a city manager nominated by the mayor and elected by the city council.

The San José City Council is made up of ten council members elected by districts, and a mayor elected in an at-large election. During city council meetings, the mayor presides, and all eleven members can vote on any issue. The mayor has no veto powers. Council members and the mayor are elected to four-year terms; the even-numbered district council members beginning in 1994; the mayor and the odd-numbered district council members beginning in 1996. Council members and the mayor are limited to two successive terms in office, although a council member that has reached the term limit can be elected mayor, and vice versa. The council elects a vice-mayor from the members of the council at the second meeting of the year following a council election. This council member has the right to act as mayor during the temporary absence of the mayor, but does not have the right of succession to the mayor's office upon a vacancy.

The City Manager is the chief administrative officer of the city, and must present an annual budget for approval by the city council. When the office is vacant, the Mayor proposes a candidate for City Manager, subject to council approval. The council appoints the Manager for an indefinite term, and may at any time remove the manager, or the electorate may remove the manager through a recall election. Other city officers appointed by the council are the City Attorney, City Auditor, City Clerk, and Independent Police Auditor. ref name=PolHist/> Public education in the city is provided by four high school districts, fourteen elementary districts, and four unified school districts (which provide both elementary and high schools).

In addition to the main San Jose Unified School District, the unified school districts are Milpitas Unified School District, Morgan Hill Unified School District, and Santa Clara Unified School District.

The following districts use the "feeder" system:

• Campbell Union High School District receives students from:
  • Cambrian
  • Campbell Union
  • Luther Burbank
  • Moreland
  • Union School District.
• East Side Union High School District receives students from:
  • Alum Rock Union
  • Berryessa Union
  • Evergreen Elementary
  • Franklin-McKinley
  • Mount Pleasant Elementary
  • Oak Grove
  • Orchard Elementary
• Fremont Union High School District receives students from:
  • Cupertino Union School District.
• Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District receives students from
  • Los Gatos Union School District.

Private schools in San Jose are primarily run by religious groups. The Catholic Diocese of San Jose has the second largest student population in the Santa Clara County, behind only SJUSD; the diocese and its parishes operate several schools in the city, including four high schools: Archbishop Mitty High School, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Notre Dame High School, and Presentation High School. There are two Baptist high schools, Liberty Baptist School and White Road Baptist Academy. [http://www.city-data.com/city/San-Jose-California.html] Valley Christian High School is a Protestant high school in the North Valley neighborhood. There is also the nonsectarian K-12 Harker School.

San Jose library system

The San Jose City Library system is unique in that the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library combines the collections of the city's system with the San Jose State University main library. The building of the library in 2003 was the largest single library construction project west of the Mississippi. It has more than 1.5 million items. The building has eight floors that result in more than 475,000 square feet of space with a capacity for 2 million volumes.

The city has 18 neighborhood branches including the Biblioteca Latinoamericana which specializes in Spanish language works. The East San Jose Carnegie Branch Library, a Carnegie library opened in 1908, is the last Carnegie library in Santa Clara County still operating as a public library and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The San Jose system (along with the University system) were jointly named as "Library of the Year" by the Library Journal in 2004.

Attractions

.]].]]

Parks, gardens, and other outdoor recreational sites

• Almaden Quicksilver County Park, 4,147 acres (17 km²) of former mercury mines in South San Jose (operated and maintained by the County of Santa Clara, Parks and Recreation Department).
• Alum Rock Park, 718 acres (2.9 km²) in East San Jose, the oldest municipal park in California
• Emma Prusch Farm Park, 43.5 acres (176,000 m²) in East San Jose. Donated by Emma Prusch to demonstrate the valley's agricultural past, it includes a 4-H barn (the largest in San Jose), community gardens, a rare-fruit orchard, demonstration gardens, picnic areas, and expanses of lawn. [http://www.sanjoseca.gov/prns/regionalparks/pfp/]

• California's Great America
• Circle of Palms Plaza, a ring of palm trees surrounding a California state seal and historical landmark at the site of the first state capitol
• Kelley Park, including diverse facilities such as Happy Hollow Park & Zoo (a child-centric amusement park), the Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park), History Park at Kelley Park, and the Portuguese Historical Museum within the history park
• Kirk Park, home to the San Jose Young People's Theater
• Overfelt Gardens, including the Chinese Cultural Garden
• Plaza de César Chávez, a small park in Downtown, hosts outdoor concerts and the Christmas in the Park display
• Raging Waters, water park with water slides and other water attractions. This sits within Lake Cunningham Park
• Rosicrucian Park, nearly an entire city block in the Rose Garden neighborhood; the Park offers a setting of Egyptian and Moorish architecture set among lawns, rose gardens, statuary, and fountains, and includes the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, Planetarium, Research Library, Peace Garden and Visitors Center
• San Jose Flea Market
• San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, 5½ acre (22,000 m²) park in the Rose Garden neighborhood, featuring over 4,000 rose bushes

Trails

San Jose's trail network offers over 40 mi of recreational and commute trails throughout the City. The major trails in the network include:

• Coyote Creek Trail
• Guadalupe River Trail
• Los Gatos Creek Trail
• Los Alamitos Creek Trail
• Penitencia Creek Trail
• Silver Creek Valley Trail

Additional information is available at the City of San Jose [http://www.sjparks.org/trails trail network website].

Museums, libraries, and other cultural collections

• Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
• History Park at Kelley Park
• Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, home of the largest Beethoven collection outside Europe
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, the largest U.S. public library west of Mississippi River
• Mexican Heritage Plaza, a museum and cultural center for Mexican Americans in the area
• Portuguese Historical Museum
• Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on display in the western United States, located at Rosicrucian Park
• San Jose Museum of Art
• The Tech Museum of Innovation

Sports and event venues

• HP Pavilion at San José - home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, the AFL's San Jose SaberCats and the NLL's San Jose Stealth.

• San Jose Convention Center-home of the CBA's San Jose Sky Rockets until the team's departure in 2006 to North Dakota.
• San Jose Jazz Festival, held annually in downtown San Jose
• San Jose Municipal Stadium, home of the minor league San Jose Giants.
• Spartan Stadium, home of San José State University football and the previous home of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes.

Other structures

• Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, the oldest parish in California
• Lick Observatory, home of what was once the largest telescope in the world
• Sikh Gurdwara - San Jose, the largest Gurdwara (a Sikh temple) in the United States
• Peralta Adobe, a restored adobe home showing the lifestyle of Spanish and Mexican California
• Winchester Mystery House, a sprawling, 160-room Victorian mansion built by Sarah Winchester
• Raging Waters, the largest water park in Northern California with 23 acres and millions of gallons of water

Media

San Jose is served by local media as well as that of the Greater Bay Area and national media. Media outlets based in San Jose include the San Jose Mercury News and various smaller newspapers and magazines, five television stations, six AM radio stations, and sixteen FM radio stations.

In April 1909, Charles David Herrold, an electronics instructor in San Jose, constructed a radio station to broadcast the human voice. The station "San Jose Calling" (call letters FN, later FQW), was the world's first radio station with scheduled programming targeted at a general audience. The station became the first to broadcast music in 1910. Herrold's wife Sybil became the first female "disk jockey" in 1912. The station changed hands a number of times before eventually becoming today's KCBS-AM in San Francisco.

Cultural references to San Jose

• Do You Know the Way to San Jose, lyrics, Hal David – music, Burt Bacharach; Grammy-winning 1968 hit single (Pop #10, R&B #23) for Dionne Warwick, Scepter Records 12216; more than 100 other recordings.
• Michaela Roessner. Vanishing Point. Tor, New York, 1993. ISBN 0-3128-5213-4. Post-apocalyptic novel, largely set in San Jose; many South Bay survivors have gathered to live in the Winchester Mystery House and the nearby Century Theatres dome.

See also

• List of people from San Jose, California
• List of school districts in Santa Clara County, California
• San José Police Department

Notes and references

• Bruno, Andy; INCONSISTENCY ACCENTED BY SAN JOSE AND SAN JOSE; San Jose Mercury News; February 15, 1996, p. 2E
• [http://www.weather.com/activities/other/other/weather/climo-monthly-graph.html?locid=USCA0993&from=search The Weather Channel data for San Jose]

• Peck, Willys I., "When Ma Bell Spoke With a Human Voice," Saratoga Stereopticon: A Magic Lantern of Memory, (Cupertino, California: California History Center and Foundation, 1998, pp. 41–42.
• Map: Mobile Communications: Reaching the World by Mobile Telephone Service, (San Francisco: Pacific Telephone Co., 1983.)
• Undated San Jose Mercury News article describing exchange names possibly written by Patricia Loomis or Clyde Arbuckle.

Further reading

• Beilharz, Edwin A.; and DeMers Jr., Donald O.; San Jose: California's First City; 1980, ISBN 0-932986-13-7
• The [http://www.sjlibrary.org/research/special/ca/ California Room], the San Jose Library's collection of research materials on the history of San Jose and Santa Clara Valley.

External links

• [http://www.sanjoseca.gov/ City of San Jose Web site]
• [http://www.sjredevelopment.org/PublicationsPlans/SanJose1975.pdf Photos of San Jose - 1975 vs. 2005]
• [http://www.sjchamber.com San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce]
• [http://www.hccsv.com Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley]
• [http://www.sanjosesistercities.org Pacific Neighbors San Jose Sister Cities Program]
• [http://www.sanjosedublin.org San Jose - Dublin Sister City Program]
• [http://www.electionvolunteer.com/ San Jose and Santa Clara Election Information]

be-x-old:Сан-Хасэ (Каліфорнія)