The Los Gatos Library - History Collection Volunteers are excited to share historical facts and information about the Town of Los Gatos that they have come across during their work in our Local History room at the library.   Each issue will highlight interesting facts about the people and events that have helped make Los Gatos such a wonderful place to live, work, and play.  We hope you enjoy reading.

 

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In 1975, to help celebrate the Bicentennial of the United States, Mardi Gualtieri, the former Mayor of Los Gatos, formed a subcommittee to devise a program which would designate certain pre -1900 houses in Town which possessed prescribed attributes, as Bellringers.  The goals were to ensure health and safety for the homeowners by updating electrical and plumbing facilities and to provide cosmetic improvement of the home by restoring authentic decorative aspects.  Federal aid as well as private investment allowed these homeowners to preserve the history of some of the Victorian houses in Los Gatos in neighborhoods which were beginning to deteriorate.  61 awards were given out on July 4, 1976.  Five more houses received Bellringers on July 4, 1977.
 
As part of the celebration for the Centennial of the Town of Los Gatos in 1987, Sara Anderson continued Mardi’s work and headed a committee, Project Bellringer II, which selected 34 more houses, making 100 houses in Los Gatos to qualify for the number originally agreed upon.
 
Mardi and Sara both worked with Ron Cassel, metal shop teacher at Los Gatos High School and Lyn Johnston, artist and sculptor, to implement the design and to fashion the brass cats which would become the emblem for the award.  Funds for the project were donated by the Lions Club.  A doorbell was incorporated in the design so the cats could be mounted next to the front doors of the designated houses. Most still have the plaques, which are shaped like bronze cats’ heads and which have been wired to accommodate an electric bell, affixed near their front doors.  The number was never to exceed 100.
 
There is a display of the history of the making of these plaques in the Local History section of the Library.  This exhibit traces the procedures required to create the symbol which shows the vision, dedication, and cooperation of Los Gatos citizens to maintain the special quality of life that typifies the town
 

The Los Gatos History Collection was started by former Librarian Peggy Conaway in 2002.   Originally located in a cramped hallway of the old library, collections were not easily accessible  by the public. We are now located on the second floor of the new Los Gatos Library and much more accessible to the general public.  The intent of our news letter is to inform the public about the resources the History Collection contains. Each issue will have articles of interest about historic houses, interesting people, unidentified photos (or Histories Mysteries) and our agricultural heritage.   The History Project is staffed by volunteers 3 afternoons a week to help find answers to History questions the public might have.  The collection includes a wide variety of materials.   We have a photo collection which can be accessed online, Los Gatos High School yearbooks, a clipping collection on a variety of subjects, historical maps, bound books of newspapers, information on historical houses, information about prominent families and too many other things to list.  Each newsletter will highlight one of our resources
 

Imagine… A brilliant tapestry spread outward as far as the eye could see, with expanses of fruit orchard blossoms bordered by verdant vineyards and rainbows of fragrant flower gardens growing amid majestic valley live oaks that dot the valley floor.  Golden California poppies, wildflowers and orange groves meander up into the foothills like an overflowing fruit bowl. The Valley of Heart's Delight, a bountiful garden of nearly 100,000 acres really existed like an immense living painting against a spring blue sky.  All one had to do was head up Blossom Hill Road and gaze out over the valley.

Imagine… sitting in deep grassy weeds on a pleasant warm day humming with the sweet choral of birds and the dancing of butterflies.  Hearing the drone of perhaps a distant motor getting closer, you were startled to see the sky tear open and a huge shadowy cloud spilling out obscuring the sky.  You ran like hell and got yourself inside fast. Looking out the window you could see the bee swarm zipping around in a frenzy blackening the sky.
Springtime was upon the Santa Clara Valley and thousands of honey bees were on their way to work. They were drawn like magnets to the masses of fragrant white blossoms of the prune orchard.

So how did this come to be?  What drove people west to the Santa Clara Valley?  Yes there was the ideal weather and artesian wells and people were trickling in before the Mexican-American war of 1846 starting small family farms.  But, then some interesting things happened.

 

To be continued…

 Comments to: sungold27@gmail.com
 

Vic Collard passed away May 10, 2004; he was 82. Collard exhibited a spirit of pride and a sense of altruism throughout the Los Gatos community. A lover of nature, Collard was a founding member of the Los Gatos Trails and Bikeways Committee which was responsible for the Los Gatos Creek Trail, Los Gatos Creek Footpath and the Novitiate Park Trail. He also spent a considerable amount of time maintaining the trails to keep them safe. Collard shared his love of the outdoors with the youth by helping create the Los Gatos Youth Park and serving on the board. Collard became a guest lecturer at Los Gatos High School. He spoke on agriculture, with the goal of exciting students and engaging them in activities they may not otherwise engage in. Through his nonprofit work, Collard developed the Vic Collard Scholarship Fund for students interested in horticulture and agriculture. Friends and colleagues praised Collard for his humanitarianism, philanthropy and desire to make Los Gatos an even more beautiful place to reside.

You can read the original  obituary printed in the May 2004 edition of the Los Gatos Weekly Times on the library's Online History Archive Site.  (three part document)