Mountain View Historical Timeline
From 1770 to the 21st century
Each city has its own unique events, people and history. Mountain View is no exception.
In this timeline we highlight just some of the many milestones that have shaped Mountain View into our place it is today.
Tamien-speaking indigenous communities, later known as the Ohlone, live in villages in what is now Mountain View. A large earthern mound created by the local tribes (near the present-day Monta Loma neighborhood) serves as a ceremonial and cultural center for the area.
Mexico wins independence from Spain and Alta California becomes a territory of the newly established nation.
The Spanish-era mission system is secularized (disestablished), with the intention of turning over mission lands to indigenous peoples who had survived the mission-era. Most lands are granted to Hispanic Californio families.
The Mexican government grants the 8,800-acre Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas (ranch of the lambs pasture) to Franciso Estrada and his wife, Inez Castro. Estrada builds the first permanent home in what is now Mountain View, near what is now Central Expressway and Rengstorff Avenue. After Estrada dies in 1845, ownership passes to Inez’s father, Mariano Castro.
A 1,700-acre Rancho Posolmi is granted by the Mexican government to Lupe Ynigo, one of the few local Native Americans to be granted a rancho. The rancho is named after a Ohlone village once located in the area. This area later became Moffett Field.
A stage coach service begins on El Camino Real and a stop is established near Grant Road, creating a center of activity for the surrounding area and leading to the establishment of a settlement soon to be named Mountain View.
Jacob Shumway, store keeper and the town’s first postmaster, is credited with the naming of Mountain View. Mountain View School District is formed.
Mountain View’s San Francisco bay shoreline becomes a center of local economic activity. Henry Rengstorff, John G. Jagels and Charles Guth build docks and warehouses to ship the region’s produce and supplies. Their landings were located on land now part of Shoreline Park, the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and Moffett Field.
Land for Mountain View Cemetery is donated by Maria Peralta de Castro (now the location of Pioneer Memorial Park)
The San Francisco San Jose Railroad begins service (now operated by Caltrain) with a station one mile from the original town of Mountain View on El Camino Real. The town of New Mountain View, also known as Mountain View Station, is established near the train stop and Castro Street becomes the new community’s downtown. The Castro family is given a “flag stop” station near their home, known as Castro Station, in compensation for the railroad running through their rancho lands. Castro Station remains in operation until its replaced by San Antonio Station in 1999.
Saint Joseph Catholic Church opens as a satellite of Mission Santa Clara. A small chapel near the banks of Stevens Creek on El Camino Real in the original town of Mountain View serves as the church’s home until it relocates to its present location at the corner of Church and Hope streets in 1905.
Henry Rengstorff leads efforts to form the Whisman School District, serving students in what is now northern Mountain View. The district is named after local stagecoach line operator John Whisman. The first Whisman School was located on Stierlin Road (now N. Shoreline Boulevard) on land donated by Rengstorff.
Chinese immigrant Yuen Lung settles in Mountain View. He opens a store on the corner of Villa and View Streets. Over time, other Chinese and Japanese owned businesses cluster around the area, which becomes known as “Chinatown”.
The town’s first bank—Bank of Mountain View—opens.
The first Mountain View High School opens on El Camino Real at Calderon Avenue. The school remains at this location until 1924, when a new, larger campus opens on Castro Street to meet the needs of the growing student population.
Local residents vote to incorporate and the City of Mountain View is officially established on November 7, 1902. The initial population of the city is 610 people, with city limits defined on the north by Washington Street, on the south by El Camino Real, on the west by Pettis Avenue, and on the east roughly to Calderon Avenue. Electric street lights, telephone service, and municipal water system begin operating.
Seventh Day Adventist Pacific Press Publishing Association moves to Mountain View, bringing with it about 100 Adventist families employed by the press who settle in the neighborhood south of its plant on Villa Street (now known as Shoreline West). The Adventist community also establishes schools and a church in the vicinity. The company relocates to Idaho in 1985.
The Mockbee Weilheimer Addition extends the developed area of Mountain View to north of the railroad tracks for the first time. By the 1920s, many of the homes along Alma Street (now Central Expressway), Washington Street, and Jackson Street are occupied by immigrants from Spain and the area comes to be known as Spanish Town. The Spanish-speaking residents of the neighborhood give it their own nickname, La Charca de la Rana (the frog pond) due to its often muddy, unpaved streets.
Mountain View Public Library is established
The Farmers and Merchants Bank building opens at the corner of Castro and Villa Streets.
The Castro family donates land on the corner of Hope and Church streets to Saint Joseph Catholic Church. A new church is built on the site, replacing the parish’s small chapel on El Camino Real near Stevens Creek in the town of Old Mountain View.
On April 18 the San Francisco Earthquake occurs. Several buildings in Mountain View are heavily damaged, including the Ames building. No deaths are reported.
The area near the intersection of El Camino Real and El Monte Avenue is known as The Junction and home to a popular roadhouse known as the Junction Inn. The Junction Inn becomes a speakeasy during Prohibition and remains in operation until it is destroyed by fire in 1941.
Land speculators create the University Park subdivision near Castro Station, a Southern Pacific railroad station originally built to serve the Castro family whose family home stood nearby. Hopes that Stanford University professors and San Franciscans would build country cottages along streets with Stanford University-inspired names like Leland Avenue and College Avenue never come to fruition. By the 1950s the neighborhood evolves into an affordable predominantly Latino community known as Castro City.
The cornerstone for the city’s first town hall is laid on the southwest corner of California and Castro Streets. A parade down Castro Street kicks off the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone. The Mission Revival style building houses the city’s library, courtroom, police station and jail. It remains until 1959 when the city outgrew the building.
The Minton Lumber Company is established on Front Street (now Evelyn Avenue). By the time it closes in 2010, Minton’s Lumber earns the status as Mountain View’s oldest operating business.
California male voters pass Amendment #8 on October 11, which grants women in California the right to vote. Local women, led by Mary Gates, work hard to ensure passage in Santa Clara County. Meetings are held at the Glen Theater, Masonic Hall, Swall’s community hall and in the homes of MV women.
The California Supply company, a pickle packing plant, opens on the corner of Franklin and Villa Streets. Demolished in 1963, the location is now occupied by the Police and Fire Administration Building.
The Mountain View Prune & Apricot Exposition is first held and grows to become a six-day event that attracts 25,000 people in 1927. The festival grounds later become an auto dealership and are now the site of the city’s tallest building, Mountain Bay Plaza at 444 Castro Street.
Hoping to establish Mountain View as a deep water port, the South Shore Port Company begins dredging the tidal slough at Jagels Landing at the end of Whisman Road. Ferry and freight service are established in 1923 but end in 1927 when the company declares bankruptcy.
Mountain View Union High School relocates from its original location on El Camino Real to a new campus on Castro Street. Until the opening of Los Altos High School in 1954, it is the only public high school in all of Mountain View and Los Altos.
The Campen Theatre (later known as the Mountain View Theatre) opens on the 200- block of Castro Street. The building is designed by renowned Bay Area movie theatre architect Alexander A. Cantin and features 750 seats and a pipe organ. The theatre closes in 1987 due to competition from new multiplex theaters. Since the 1990s it has been used as a nightclub.
Mountain View’s growing Portuguese community celebrates a Holy Ghost festa (festival) on the Costa dairy farm on Charleston Road, leading to the establishment of two Portuguese Halls, the Irmandade da Festa do Espírito Santo (IFES) hall on Stierlin Road in 1931 and the Sociedade de Festa Velha (SFV) built on Villa Street in 1935.
Hangar One, covering eight acres and one of the world’s largest freestanding structures, is built to house the helium filled rigid airship USS Macon. The unusual structure is part of the soon to be opened US Naval Air Station. The building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The US Naval Air Station Sunnyvale is commissioned. “Mountain View” is omitted from the name, which made Federal officials nervous about an experimental airship base associated with mountains. Later in the year the facility is renamed NASA Moffett Field after the death of Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, who is credited with the creation of the airfield. On 1 July 1994, NAS Moffett Field closes as a naval air station and is turned over to the NASA Ames Research Center.
The historic Adobe Building is constructed as a New Deal Civil Works Administration project. The effort also involves the efforts of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, one of the building’s first tenants. The building has served as a serviceman’s club, teen center, city administration office and day care center. In 1987, new seismic building regulations forced the city to close it. As the structure sat abandoned over several years, a community-driven, “Save the Adobe” campaign began in 1995. As a result, the building is restored to its 1935 appearance and reopened for public use on September 29, 2001.
Members of the Japanese community establish a Buddhist place of worship in the Mockbee building on Castro Street. The location becomes a social center for the Buddhist community but closes in 1942 when local Japanese families are forced to leave the area. A new Buddhist Temple opens on Stierlin Road in 1957.
The Bayshore Highway (101) opens on the Peninsula after 13 years of construction.
Flight research begins at the National Committee for Aeronautics (now the NASA Ames Research Center). The NASA organization has conducted world-class research and development in aeronautics, exploration technology and science since its founding.
President Franklin Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 to evacuate all West Coast Japanese Americans to internment camps for the duration of the WWII. Local residents of Japanese descent gather at the train station on May 26, 1942 in order to leave Mountain View.
Four engineers from Hendy Iron Works in Sunnyvale establish Arrow Development Company at a new building they construct at 243 Moffett Boulevard in Mountain View. In 1953, the company catches the attention of Walt Disney who contracts with Arrow to engineer and manufacture Disneyland’s original rides. Arrow grows to become a major player in the amusement park industry, inventing the first tubular steel rollercoaster (Disneyland’s Matterhorn) and other innovative ride systems now enjoyed by millions.
Mountain View’s growing Mexican American community begins to organize via the formation of Club Estrella, a social, cultural, and mutual aid organization. The club is created by Mexican American women living on or near Washington Street with the encouragement of Father McDonnell, a priest at Saint Joseph Catholic Church. Father McDonnell also helps the community establish the Guadalupe Federal Credit Union in 1950, at a time when many financial institutions discriminated against people of Mexican descent. A few years later, Father McDonnell leaves Mountain View to establish the Our Lady of Guadalupe church in East San Jose where he befriends and becomes an early mentor to Cesar Chavez.
Ferry-Morse Seed Company, one of the nation’s largest seed packaging firms, opens a plant on Evelyn Avenue and Mountain View-Alviso Road (now Highway 237). The company relocates to Modesto in 1985. The property is developed into a high technology business park.
To prevent annexation into the cities of Mountain View and Palo Alto, the village of Los Altos, established as a commuter suburb in 1906, incorporates as its own municipality.
Sylvania Electronics corporation breaks ground for a new defense plant near Evelyn Avenue and Whisman Road. The company merges with General Telephone & Electronics in the late 1950s to become one of the largest employers in Mountain View.
Mountain View Pioneer and Historical Association forms.
Los Altos High School opens on Almond Avenue and becomes the second campus in the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District. Prior the opening of the new campus, Los Altos-area students attended Mountain View High School. The school mascot is the Knight and its school colors are blue and gold.
William Shockley opens the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory on San Antonio Road. Employees from the lab break away to form Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957.
Dean and Rebecca Riggs open Linda’s Drive-In on El Camino Real at Escuela Avenue. Linda’s signature Parisian Burger becomes one of Mountain View’s favorite meals. Although Linda’s closed in 1985, the Parisian Burger can still be found on the menus of local restaurants who have recreated the recipe of its secret sauce. For many years, the MVHA served the Parisian burger at its annual summer meeting.
Construction of a new retail center, the San Antonio Shopping Center, begins with the Sears department store on San Antonio Road. In the late 1960s the center expands to more than 50 acres and is home to mix of national chains and popular local businesses like the Menu Tree restaurant and San Antonio Hobby Shop.
Community Services Agency of Los Altos and Mountain View is formed by a group of Mountain View residents concerned about the welfare of low-income families in the city. Over the decades the organization expands to provide vital social services for residents of Mountain View, Los Altos, and Los Altos Hills.
The Jobs family, including Steve Jobs, moves to the Monta Loma neighborhood. In 1967 the family relocates to Cupertino.
The city Recreation Center Park opens at the location of the demolished Villa Francesca, a residence of the area’s founding Castro family. To reflect its location on Rengstorff Avenue (formerly Pastoria Avenue), the park is renamed Rengstorff Park in 1970 despite having no historical association with the Rengstorff Family.
El Camino Hospital is completed. Funding is provided by the formation of a new hospital district and the passage of financing bonds.
Awalt High School opens on Truman Avenue on the southern edge of Mountain View, becoming the third campus in the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District. The school is named after longtime school district trustee, Chester F. Awalt. The school mascot is the Spartan and its school colors are black and gold. It primarily serves residents living in the new single family home neighborhoods being built in the former orchard district south of El Camino Real in Mountain View and Los Altos.
The Moffett Drive-In Theatre opens.
The first segment of Highway 85 opens, extending from US 101 in Mountain View to Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino. The highway is originally named the Stevens Creek Freeway and runs parallel to its namesake creek. Excess land acquired for the freeway’s construction is purchased by the City of Mountain View in 1967 to develop a park chain along Stevens Creek, which eventually results in the construction of the Stevens Creek Trail in the 1990s.
The Mayfield Mall opens. It is one of the first completely enclosed carpeted shopping malls in Northern California. The 500,000 square foot mall, anchored by J.C. Penney, is located at the corner of Central Expressway and San Antonio Road. The mall closes in 1983 and later is converted into offices for the Hewlett Packard company.
At the urging of the Mountain View Historical Association, the historic Mountain View cemetery, established in 1861 and owned by the city since 1930, is saved from plans to run a street through it and instead is converted into Pioneer Memorial Park.
The Intel corporation is formed by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore. The company develops ground-breaking chip technology.
Construction begins on a twelve-story office tower, the International Environmental Dynamic Building, on Castro Street. Because the contractor defaulted on the construction loan, the completion of the building was delayed for eight years. The building was completed in 1981 and is now called the Mountain Bay Plaza. It is the tallest building in Mountain View.
Bailey Avenue is widened, transforming what was a narrow two-lane residential road into a six-lane thoroughfare that is later renamed Shoreline Boulevard. Construction of the road and its interchange with Central Expressway results in the forced displacement of over 100 families via eminent domain and partly destroys the historic Mexican American neighborhood along Washington Street.
Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC)
is formed to provide quality, affordable mental health care for students in grades K-12 and counseling to individuals and families. CHAC therapists are native speakers in more than 11 languages.
The Old Mill Shopping Center opens. The center features a multiplex AMC movie theater and landscaped indoor atrium complete with a babbling brook and large wooden water wheel. The center is demolished in 1994 to become a housing development.
Due to declining district-wide enrollment, declining tax revenues, and a desire to racially integrate its other high school campuses, the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School district closes Mountain View High School on Castro Street. To ease the pain of the closure on the Mountain View community, Chester F. Awalt High School is renamed Mountain View High School and Los Altos High School adopts the shuttered school’s blue and gray colors and eagle mascot. The historic Castro Street campus is demolished in 1987 and replaced by the Park Place apartments, City Centre office building, and Eagle Park.
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) is founded. The company is a manufacturer of workstations and a pioneer in computerized effects for films. The company files for bankruptcy in 2006. That same year, Google purchases the former SGI headquarters on Amphitheatre Parkway, which becomes known as the Googleplex.
Nonprofit KMVT 15 Silicon Valley Community Media kmvt15.org is formed to provide media education, hands-on training, and civic engagement. It serves as a resource to narrow the digital divide through the use of technology and is the recipient of many national and regional awards.
Shoreline at Mountain View, a 750 acre park, golf course, and wildlife reserve opens on the city’s bayfront on land formerly used as a landfill. Shoreline Amphitheatre, an outdoor concert venue with a capacity of 22,500, opens adjacent to the park in 1986 as partnership between the City of Mountain View and well-known Bay Area impresario, Bill Graham.
The city starts a downtown revitalization project that includes the complete reconstruction of Castro Street between Central Expressway and El Camino Real. The project, which is completed in 1990, changes the four lane thoroughfare into a two lane pedestrian friendly street with wide sidewalks and landscaping, including tree planting.
The new Civic Center opens on Castro Street. The four story complex, which includes a new City Hall and 600 seat Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (MVCPA), is designed by the William Turnbull firm. The MVCPA is the home of world-class theatre, dance, and music along with visual arts exhibits, lectures, and corporate events.
The Rengstorff House, originally built in 1867 on Stierlin Road, is relocated to Shoreline Park. After a major renovation costing about $1 million, funded by the city, the house opens to the public in April 1991.
Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation is founded. LAMV-CF provides local grants, incubates emerging nonprofits, offers donor-advised funds and philanthropic advising, and partners with community organizations and residents on solutions that make a sustained difference in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Mountain View.
Netscape communications, an Internet service provider best known for its browser, is founded.
Day Worker Center of Mountain View is formed dayworkercentermv.org as a non-profit organization that connects the day worker community with employers. The Center offers programs for workers and community members such as providing healthy meals, ESL classes, technology classes and workshops about worker’s rights.
The city of Mountain View launches its website.
The Mountain View Public Library reopens in a new building on Franklin Street. The new facility includes a larger space for the Mountain View History Center on its second floor, home to the combined archives of the City of Mountain View and the Mountain View Historical Association.
Google moves to Mountain View.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) opens its 7.6-mile Tasman West light rail line extension connecting Mountain View with the valley’s light rail network with stations at Downtown Mountain View, Evelyn Avenue (later closed in 2015), Whisman, Middlefield, and Bayshore/NASA.
The Mountain View School District (established in 1854) and the Whisman School District (established in 1869) merge together forming the Mountain View Whisman School District.
The Computer History Museum reopens in a former Silicon Graphics building on Shoreline Boulevard. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the information age and explores the computing industry and its impact on society.
The City of Mountain View celebrates the 100th anniversary of its incorporation with events throughout the year, culminating in the dedication of Centennial Plaza and a replica of Mountain View’s Southern Pacific Depot, originally built in 1888 and demolished in 1959.
After two decades tending the last working farm in Mountain View, the Schmitz family lose the lease on their 15-acre farm on Grant Road. The property is developed in 2010 with 53 single family homes and the farm’s historic windmill is relocated next to the Rengstorff House. The development of the farm leaves just one agricultural property in Mountain View, a 9-acre apricot orchard on Whisman Road.
Khan Academy started by Salman Khan with headquarters in Mountain View khanacademy.org. The mission of the nonprofit educational organization is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.
On October 9 the Mountain View City Council approves establishing a minimum wage in the City of Mountain View of $10.30 per hour effective July 1, 2015, with annual adjustments for inflation on January 1 of each following year. The City Council also adopts a goal of reaching a $15.00 per hour minimum wage by 2018.
A voter approved measure establishes the City of Mountain View’s Rent Stabilization Program, which implements measures to stabilize the community by reducing rental housing turnover in certain rental units.
Heritage Park opens on Rengstorff Avenue. The park features the historic Immigrant House, a circa 1880 cottage originally located in Downtown Mountain View. It is restored to commemorate the many immigrant farmworkers that came to Mountain View during its agricultural heyday.
The COVID pandemic shuts down businesses and schools on March 16 by order of the Santa Clara County Health Department. Remote work, mask wearing and learning on Zoom become the standard way that people, workers and students connect. The guidelines remain in effect for months as the disease spreads throughout the country. Four blocks of Castro Street close to automobile traffic to accommodate outdoor dining.
A two-part vaccine for COVID becomes available, with free vaccinations available at the Community Center. Long lines form at the center as Mountain View residents are eager to get their shots.
On October 25, 2022, City Council adopts an ordinance to establish a pedestrian mall on Castro Street between the West Evelyn Avenue and California Street.
The implementation of the Castro Street Pedestrian Mall will be a two phased approach. The first three-five years is known as the interim plan and is designed to strengthen the layout of the space, provide clear standards/ guidelines, and identify interim infrastructure needs. The second phase is the long-term visioning of Castro Street as a pedestrian mall.
Mountain View History Article Collection
Learn more about how Mountain View grew from a small agricultural community into the world-famous tech hub it is today.