Timeline of San Jose, California
The following is a timeline of the history of San Jose, California, United States.
Prior to the 19th century
| History of California |
|---|
 |
| Periods |
| Topics |
| Cities |
| Regions |
| Bibliographies |
| Topical Outlines |
| Timelines |
 California portal |
- 1777 – Spanish pueblo San Jose de Guadalupe founded.[1]
- 1797 – San Jose mission founded.[1]
19th century
- 1803 – San Jose de Guadalupe church built.[2]
- 1805 – Mission San Jose's church built in 1805, not 1803, and named La Mission del Gloriosisimo Patriarch San Jose, or just Mission San Jose, but not San Jose de Guadalupe according to San Jose Mission's history page.[3]
- 1809 – Mission San Jose's church completed and dedicated.[4]
- 1822 – Mexicans in power.[5]
- 1840 – Population: 750 (approximate).[1]
- 1846 – Town occupied by U.S. forces.[1]
- 1849 – December: Town becomes capital of the new state of California.[6]
- 1850
- City chartered.[1]
- Josiah Belden becomes mayor.
- San Francisco-San Jose stagecoach begins operating.[7]
- 1851
- San Jose Weekly Visitor newspaper begins publication.[8]
- College of Notre Dame established.[1]
- 1852 – San Jose Foundry in business.[9]
- 1853 – Hook and Ladder Company No.1 organized.[9]
- 1855
- San Jose Telegraph newspaper begins publication.[8]
- San Jose City Hall built on North Market Street.[10]
- 1856 – Young Men's Literary Association organized.[11]
- 1857 – Minn's Evening School established.[7]
- 1861 – San Jose Daily Mercury newspaper begins publication.[8]
- 1862 – California State Normal School founded.[1]
- 1864 – San Francisco-San Jose Railway in operation.[2]
- 1865 – St. Joseph High School established.[12]
- 1866 – Santa Clara Argus newspaper begins publication.[8]
- 1867 – San Jose YMCA established.[13]
- 1868 – St. Joseph's Church built (approximate date).[2]
- 1870
- California State Normal School relocated to San Jose.[2]
- Chinatown fire.
- Population: 9,089; county 26,246.[14]
- 1871 – University of the Pacific relocated to San Jose vicinity.[1]
- 1875 – San Jose Law Library,[11] San Jose Fruit Packing Company,[15] and the California Pioneers of Santa Clara County[16] established.
- 1878 – Home of Benevolence founded.[1]
- 1879 – Daily Morning Times begins publication.[8]
- 1886 – Board of Trade organized.[17]
- 1888 – Lick Observatory established atop Mount Hamilton.[1]
- 1889
- New San Jose City Hall built in Market Plaza.[2]
- O'Connor Hospital and Hotel Vendome established.[2]
- 1890 – Population: 18,060.[1]
- 1891 – Heald College established.[12]
- 1892 – First Unitarian Church of San Jose built.
- 1892 – We and Our Neighbors Clubhouse (women's club) founded.
- 1894
- Associated Charities of San Jose established.[18]
- Washburn Preparatory School established[19]
- 1895 – Post Office built.[17]
- 1897 – Good Government League organized.[20]
- 1900 – Population: 21,500.[1]
20th century
1900s–1950s
- 1902 – Naglee Park development begins (approximate date).
- 1903
- Grauman's Theatre[2] and San Jose Public Library building[21][22] open.
- Bean Spray Company relocates to San Jose.[9]
- 1905 – Balloon, dirigible, and aeroplane exhibitions.
- 1906 – April 18: San Francisco earthquake.
- 1909
- 1911 – East San Jose becomes part of San Jose.
- 1921 – San Jose Junior College founded.
- 1926 – Bank of Italy Building constructed.
- 1927 – Fox California Theatre built.[24]
- 1930 – Hotel Vendome is closed and demolished[25]
- 1933
- November 26: Hart killers lynched in St. James Park.[2]
- Spartan Stadium opens.
- 1936 – Willow Glen becomes part of San Jose.[26]
- 1937 – San Jose Civic Orchestra formed.
- 1943 – IBM west coast headquarters established.
- 1949
- San Jose Municipal Airport begins operating.[27]
- Burbank Theatre, Garden Theatre, and Mayfair cinema open.[28]
- Historical Museum of San José established.
- 1950s – Community Service Organization activity begins in East San Jose.[29]
- 1952 – Population: 95,280.[26]
- 1957 – San Jose Peace & Justice Center founded.[30]
- 1958 – New San Jose City Hall opened at Civic Center.[31]
- 1959 – Santa Clara County United Fund established.[13]
1960s–1990s
- 1960 – Population: 204,196.[32]
- 1961
- Happy Hollow Zoo opens.
- IBM Shoebox invented.[33]
- 1964 – San Jose Century 21 cinema built.[28]
- 1967 – Junior League of San Jose and Center for Employment Training established.
- 1968 – Alviso becomes part of city.
- 1969 – Century Theatre cinema opens.[28]
- 1970
- Regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission established.
- Population: 447,025.[7]
- 1971
- Norman Mineta becomes mayor.
- San José Historical Museum Association[16] and Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History[16] established.
- 1972 – Food Machinery Corporation headquarters relocates from San Jose to Chicago.[34]
- 1973 – Willow Glen Neighborhood Association formed.
- 1974 – Santa Clara County Transportation Agency, San Jose Earthquakes soccer club, and Second Harvest Food Bank[13] established.
- 1975
- Evergreen Valley College active.
- Janet Gray Hayes becomes mayor.[35]
- 1977 – San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles founded.
- 1980 – Rotary Club of San Jose and San Jose Repertory Theatre founded.
- 1981 – Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose established.
- 1982 – Adobe in business.[36]
- 1983
- 1983 San Jose School District California bankruptcy
- Tom McEnery becomes mayor.
- 1985 – Market Post Tower built.
- 1986
- First Community Housing and San Jose Cleveland Ballet founded.
- IBM Almaden Research Center opens.
- 1987
- Japanese American Museum of San Jose,[16] Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, and Los Fundadores y Amigos de Alta California[16] established.
- Fairmont Hotel built.
- 1988 – Fairmont Plaza built.
- 1989 – Loma Prieta earthquake.
- 1990
- Tech Museum of Innovation and San Jose International Airport's new terminal[27] open.
- Population: 782,248.[37]
- 1991
- Tathagata Meditation Center,[38] Santa Clara Valley MultiService Center, and Filipino American National Historical Society chapter[16] founded.
- Susan Hammer becomes mayor.
- San Jose Sharks begin play.
- 1992
- 1993 – Plaza Park renamed Plaza de César Chávez.[39]
- 1994
- City government-public computer-enabled communication ("Virtual Valley") in operation.[40]
- San Jose Clash soccer team formed.
- 1995
- Pierre Omidyar launches AuctionWeb, which is later renamed eBay.[41]
- Zoe Lofgren becomes U.S. representative for California's 16th congressional district.[42]
- 1998
- City website online (approximate date).[43]
- History San José nonprofit incorporated.
- 1999 – Ron Gonzales becomes mayor.
- 2000 – Population: 894,943.[44]
21st century
- 2001
- Bay Area CyberRays soccer team, and Silicon Valley De-Bug collective established.
- Mike Honda becomes U.S. representative for California's 15th congressional district.[45]
- 2002 – Symphony Silicon Valley founded.
- 2003 – Sobrato Office Tower built.
- 2005 – San Jose City Hall returned downtown.[46]
- 2006 – June: Mayor Gonzales arrested.[47]
- 2007 – Chuck Reed becomes mayor.
- 2008 – The 88 building constructed.
- 2010
- Three Sixty Residences built.
- Population: 945,942.[48]
- 2011 – October: Occupy San José begins.
- 2013 – Population: 998,537.[49]
- 2014
- 2021 – The San Jose shooting occurs, killing ten people including the gunman.[52][53]
See also
- History of San Jose, California
- List of mayors of San Jose, California
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Santa Clara County, California
- Timeline of the San Francisco Bay Area
- Timeline of California[54]
- Timelines of other cities in the Northern California area of California: Fresno, Mountain View, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Britannica 1910.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Federal Writers' Project 1940, p. 486.
- ↑ "Mission San Jose". missionsanjose.org. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
- ↑ "San José | California Missions Resource Center". missionscalifornia.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
- ↑ Winther 1935.
- ↑ Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts: G. & C. Merriam Co., 1960, p. 996, OL 5812502M
- 1 2 3 Nergal 1980.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- 1 2 3 Sawyer 1922.
- ↑ Munro-Fraser 1881, p. 399.
- 1 2 Davies Project. "American Libraries before 1876". Princeton University. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- 1 2 Patterson, Homer L. (1932). Patterson's American Educational Directory. Vol. 29. Chicago. hdl:2027/uc1.b3970358.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - 1 2 3 Mike Tigas and Sisi Wei, ed. (May 9, 2013). "San Jose, California". Nonprofit Explorer. New York: ProPublica. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ Pacific Coast Business Directory, San Francisco: H.G. Langley, 1867, OL 25478550M
- ↑ Munro-Fraser 1881.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 American Association for State and Local History (2002). "California: San Jose". Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada (15th ed.). Rowman Altamira. p. 60+. ISBN 0759100020.
- 1 2 Husted 1899.
- ↑ Carroll 1903.
- ↑ "First Woman Graduate Dies". The Stanford Daily News. October 12, 1931. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
- 1 2 Lukes 1994.
- ↑ American Library Annual, 1917–1918. New York: R.R. Bowker Co. 1918. pp. 7 v.
- ↑ "Historical Timeline of San Jose Public Library". San Jose Public Library. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ San Francisco Call, May 30, 1909
- ↑ "Historic Theatre Inventory". Maryland, USA: League of Historic American Theatres. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ "Historic Hotel Vendome in San Jose To Be Razed". Santa Cruz Evening News. March 27, 1930. p. 7. Retrieved November 1, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 Leon E. Seltzer, ed. (1952), Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World, New York: Columbia University Press, p. 1673, OL 6112221M
- 1 2 "SJC History Timeline". Mineta San Jose International Airport. Archived from the original on August 21, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- 1 2 3 "Movie Theaters in San Jose, CA". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ Rick Tejada-Flores (2004). "Cesar Chavez". Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers' Struggle. PBS. Archived from the original on June 15, 2004. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ Ken Cheetham (ed.). "Organizations Located in San Jose". San Francisco Bay Area Progressive Directory. Berkeley, California. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
- ↑ Johnson 2010, p. 67.
- ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "Mini-Historical Statistics: Population of the Largest 75 Cities: 1900 to 2000" (PDF), Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2003
- ↑ "Timeline: Building Smarter Machines", The New York Times, June 24, 2010
- ↑ Mark R. Wilson; et al. (2005). "FMC Corp.". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
- ↑ "For Woman Mayor, It's Another First", The New York Times, December 13, 1975
- ↑ Capers Jones (2013). Technical and Social History of Software Engineering. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-13-336589-4.
- ↑ Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, US Census Bureau, 1998
- 1 2 3 Pluralism Project. "San Jose". Directory of Religious Centers. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ Chacón 1995.
- ↑ "NII Awards 1995". USA: National Information Infrastructure Awards. Archived from the original on January 2, 1997.
- ↑ "Our History". eBay Inc. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
- ↑ Civic Impulse, LLC. "Members of Congress". GovTrack. Washington, D.C. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ "City of San Jose Online". Archived from the original on May 12, 1998 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "San Jose (city), California". State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on April 21, 2009. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ "California". Official Congressional Directory. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 2003–2004. hdl:2027/mdp.39015054040954.
- ↑ Gaura, Maria Alicia (August 10, 2005). "San Jose / New City Hall gets rave reviews -- mostly / 18-story building was plagued by cost overruns". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
- ↑ "San Jose Council Asks Mayor to Resign, but He Vows to Fight". The New York Times. June 29, 2006. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ "San Jose (city), California". State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ "The 15 Cities with the Largest Numeric Increase from July 1, 2012 to July 1, 2013" (PDF). US Census Bureau. 2014.
Vintage 2013 Population Estimates
- ↑ "Ten U.S. Cities Now Have 1 Million People or More". US Census Bureau. 2015.
- ↑ "Police Breaking Down Huge California Homeless Camp", The New York Times, Associated Press, December 4, 2014
- ↑ Gecker, Jocelyn; Chea, Terence (May 26, 2021). "8 dead in shooting at railyard serving Silicon Valley". Associated Press. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
- ↑ "Mass Shooting Leaves 8 Dead at VTA Yard in San Jose: Sheriff". NBC Bay Area. May 26, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
- ↑ Federal Writers' Project (1939), "Chronology", California: Guide to the Golden State, American Guide Series, New York: Hastings House – via Open Library
Bibliography
Published in the 19th century
- Frederic Hall (1871), History of San José and surroundings, San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft and Co., OCLC 1742911, OL 6916091M
- G.H. Hare, Hare's Guide to San Jose and Vicinity for Tourists and New Settlers (San Jose, 1872)
- Luther L. Paulson (1875). Handbook and Directory of Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Mateo Counties. Comp. and pub. by L.L. Paulson.
- Bishop's Directory of the City of San Jose. San Francisco: B.C. Vandall. 1876.
- J.P. Munro-Fraser (1881). History of Santa Clara County, California. San Francisco.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (9th ed.). 1886.
- "San Jose". Western and Southern States. Appletons' General Guide to the United States and Canada. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1889.
- San Jose City Directory. F.M. Husted. 1892.
- Picturesque San José, San Jose: H.S. Foote and C.A. Woolfolk, 1893
- San Jose City Directory. F.M. Husted. 1899.
Published in the 20th century
- San Jose City Directory. F.M. Husted. 1902.
- Mary Bowden Carroll (1903), Ten years in Paradise, San Jose, Cal: Popp & Hogan, OCLC 2558925, OL 23346957M
- Seeing San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley, San Jose: Guide Publishing Co., 1904
- "San Jose", United States (4th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1909, OCLC 02338437
- . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). 1910. p. 150.
- "San Jose", Santa Clara Valley, Woman's Club of Palo Alto, 1911
- Eugene T. Sawyer (1922), History of Santa Clara County, California, Los Angeles: Historic Record Co., OL 13497989M
- William F. James; George H. McMurry (1933), History of San Jose, California, San Jose, Calif: Smith Printing Co.
- Oscar Osburn Winther (1935). "Story of San Jose, 1777–1869, California's First Pueblo". California Historical Society Quarterly. 14 (1): 2–27. doi:10.2307/25160553. JSTOR 25160553.
- Federal Writers' Project (1940), "San Jose", San Francisco: The Bay and Its Cities, American Guide Series, NY: Hastings House
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Peter A. Morrison (1974). "Urban Growth and Decline: San Jose and St. Louis in 1960s". Science. 185 (4153): 757–762. Bibcode:1974Sci...185..757M. doi:10.1126/science.185.4153.757. JSTOR 1738474. PMID 4843376. S2CID 545941.
- Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "San Jose, California", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL 4120668M
- Timothy J. Lukes (1994). "Progressivism Off-Broadway: Reform Politics in San Jose, California, 1880–1920". Southern California Quarterly. 76 (4): 377–400. doi:10.2307/41171743. JSTOR 41171743.
- Ramón D. Chacón (1995). "Quetzalcoatl in San Jose: Conflict over a Commemoration". California History. 74 (3): 328–339. doi:10.2307/25177515. JSTOR 25177515.
- "City & Town Profiles: San Jose", Santa Clara County, 1995, Martinez, California: McCormack's Guides, 1995, p. 166+ (fulltext via Open Library)
Published in the 21st century
- Johnson, Bob (2010). San Jose. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-8083-8.
- "San Francisco Bay Area: San Jose", California, Lonely Planet, 2003, OL 8647775M
- "San Jose Mayor Declares State of 'Fiscal Emergency'". The New York Times. May 21, 2011.
- "Cut Salaries, Not Pensions in San Jose, Judge Rules". The New York Times. December 23, 2013.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Jose, California.
- "Timeline of San José History", sjpl.org, California: San José Public Library
- Digital Public Library of America. Items related to San Jose, California, various dates
37°20′00″N 121°54′00″W / 37.333333°N 121.9°W
| Landmarks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | |||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| Education |
| ||||||||
| Neighborhoods |
| ||||||||
| Other | |||||||||
