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Forbes Mill Annex today
Photograph by Judith Silva, courtesy of the City of Santa
Clara |
The stone building commonly known as Forbes Mill is actually
the two-story stone storage annex which was added to the original
four-story stone mill building in the fall of 1880. The original
"Santa Rosa" Flour Mill building, torn down between 1915 and 1929,
was constructed in 1852-54. James Alexander Forbes, former Vice-Counsel
in San Francisco for the British Government, came to the Santa
Clara Valley in the early 1840s. An educated Scotsman who landed
in California in 1831 when he left the whaler ship Fanny,
Forbes was involved in real estate deals across the present day
Santa Clara County. Recognizing the need for a facility to process
the grain of the growing number of farms south of San Jose, Forbes
found a convenient spot for a mill near Los Gatos Creek on the
Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos. This site lay astride the old Mission
trail between Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. In 1850 he purchased
3,000 acres in the area of the Los Gatos Creek and proceeded to
build a mill.
Historic image of the entire
Forbes Mill, with annex portion visible in front
Courtesy of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times |
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The opening of Forbes Mill in 1854 was an auspicious moment in
the history of the Santa Clara Valley. Built on the site of a Mexican
rancho amidst the sylvan landscape of the valley, the mill represented
the shift of land ownership from the Californio Dons to the new
settlers arriving after the Mexican-American War. The first three
stories of the mill were built of stone quarried from the Los Gatos
Canyon. The top story was wood, cut from trees in the mountains
above Los Gatos. In 1880 an annex was attached to the north wall
of the mill building. The town that grew around this building was
first called Forbes Mill, then Forbestown, and finally Los Gatos.
Unfortunately, Forbes knew nothing about flour milling, over extended
himself and was forced into bankruptcy. The mill passed from hand
to hand until 1870 when a stock company headed by W. S. McMurtry
and J. W. McMillen, took it over and made a success of it. It continued
as a flour mill until 1887 when it became successively a power plant
for the Los Gatos Ice and Power Company, a brewing and bottling
company, the Los Gatos Gas Company and finally the P.G. & E. substation
for Los Gatos. The mill remained a storehouse for P.G. & E. until
after World War II. It was then abandoned and finally in 1971 it
was revived as a youth center for Los Gatos. Today the old mill
annex operates as a museum, appropriately named the Forbes Mill
Museum. On June 10, 1950, the California Centennial Commission commemorated
the mill's contribution to the State's rich past by designating
it as State Historical Landmark number 458.
Forbes Mill is located at 75 Church St., Los Gatos. The Forbes
Mill Museum is open from 12:00pm to 4:00pm, Wednesdays-Sundays.
It features rotating exhibits and maintains a permanent collection
of Los Gatos area memorabilia. Entrance is free. Call 408-395-7375
for further information.
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