Gilroy History

The Ohlone Indians were the first inhabitants of the Gilroy area who lived by hunting and gathering until the arrival of the Spanish missionaries and military forces when Spanish colonization began in the area in 1800. Two Spanish land grants, the Las Animas and the San Ysidro, and a number of Mexican land grants divided the real estate into large ranchos where cattle was raised for hides, tallow, and jerked beef.

John Cameron, born in Scotland in 1794, left England using his mother's maiden name of Gilroy at the age of 19 and arrived in Monterey in 1814, and baptized at San Carlos Borroméo De Carmelo Mission  in 1817, when he changed his name to Juan Bautista Gilroy. He then relocated to Rancho San Ysidro and employed by Ygnacio Ortega as a barrel maker, then married Clara Ortega in 1821 at Mission San Juan Bautista. The Gilroys had 17 children. eight died, but nine survived.

The Martin family who came to California in first wagon train to successfully cross the continental divide and arrive in California left Council Bluffs Iowa in 1843 were the first Americans to settle in the Gilroy area. The City of Gilroy was established in 1850 as a stage coach stop along the old Monterey Road. A 1.5 square mile rectangle now known as "The Old Quad, " was laid out in the mid-1800's, as the City's original city limits and stood from the time the town of Gilroy was incorporated (in 1867 or 1870, depending on who you ask, as  the third largest community in Santa Clara County with a brewery, a flouring mill, and a distillery), until the first annexation in 1948. When the railroad arrived in Gilroy in 1869, the community became the hub of the south Santa Clara Valley. In the 1860s and '70s, Gilroy also became known for horse raising.

After the gold rush, Americans, English, Irish, and Germans joined the Spanish and Mexican pioneers and filled the fertile Pleasant Valley, (the greater Gilroy area), with every type of farm including: stock raising and grain farming and the area soon became known as "the hay and grain capitol of California".

Historically, Gilroy's economy has been based in agricultural produce and the processing of products such as: garlic, flowers, prunes, tomatoes, and onions. Food processing centers have established themselves in Gilroy, and government centers also employ many local residents.

The restoration of the Uvas Creek, formerly the site of a sand and gravel mining operation, began in 1995. The project was given a boost in the 1980s with a $1 million bequest to the city by former councilman and developer Dennis DeBell.

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