The Port and Town of Alviso
The Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department and
The Santa Clara Valley Water District dedicated the Alviso Marina
County Park on September 24, 2005.
First known to the Ohlone Indians, the lands of The Alviso Marina County Park reflect the area’s historic past. In 1838, under Mexican rule, the Rancho de los Esteros was granted to Ygnacio Alviso. He provided a dock that became a gateway for boats trading hides, tallow, hay, grain, produce, lumber, and quicksilver from the New Almaden Mines. Later in 1849 the area surveyed and The Port of Alviso soon exhibited a brisk commerce including travelers principally bound for San Francisco and Sacramento.
The accepted decline of the port began in 1864 with the completion of the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad Alviso. In 1871 the narrow gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad reached Alviso but did not lend to the area’s recovery as hydraulic mining conducted in the Sierra foothills had silted the lower San Francisco Bay. In 1890 flooding of the town doomed a sales promotion of residential lots. Thomas Foon Chew created the Bayside Canning Company in 1906, then the third largest in the world. The cannery and agricultural users continued to draw upon the Valley’s aquifer, causing a decrease in the area’s elevation.
Dedicated by the Santa Clara County Historic Heritage Commission
& The Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department
March 25, 2006
Sponsored by
Alviso Rotary Club, Rotary International
Mountain Charlie Chapter No. 1850, E Clampus Vitus
Marker can be reached from Hope Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
