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Fowler Creek Park Site History

Note:   The following excerpt is republished from the Master Plan for Fowler Creek Park, City of San Jose, October 1988.  This document may be obtained from the City of San Jose Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services Department.

Local History

The Evergreen Valley has a rich historical past dating back to the Pre-Hispanic period.  Although there is no evidence that the native Indian population inhabited the Fowler Creek Park site, the Ohlone Indians did live throughout the region and Evergreen Valley.

The Spanish first settled in the Santa Clara Valley about 1776.  When the Spanish settled the area, they divided the region into large land grants.  One such land grant was the 22,642 acre ranch "Rancho Yerba Buena", which included the Evergreen Valley.  Antonio Chabolla was the owner of this ranch and the first Spanish settler in the Evergreen Valley.

The Evergreen Valley is a sheltered, fertile, and arid valley which was named Evergreen by the European settlers after the live oak trees which covered the valley.  Beginning in about 1833 however, settlers cleared the valley for agriculture.  From the 1850s through the 1870s, the valley was primarily in hay, wheat, and barley production.  During this period, orchards were also being planted.  The commercial fruit production and packing industry didn't really prosper however, until 1865 with the completion of the transcontinental railroad which opened eastern markets to western agriculture.

The prune tree was first introduced to California in the Evergreen Valley by Louis Pellier in 1856.  Louis Pellier and his brothers, Pierre and Jean, are also responsible for bringing back wine grapes from France in 1854 and establishing the first vineyard in the Valley.  The Pellier legacy of wine making continues today under the name of Mirassou.

J. Andrew Jackson Fowler settled in Evergreen in 1867.  On 173 acres along Fowler Road he grew grain crops and established the Evergreen Nursery in 1872.  Fowler grew eucalyptus trees in his nursery which were planted along Alum Rock Avenue and Fowler Road.  Some of these trees still exist along Fowler Road.  Fowler Creek and Fowler Road are named after J. Andrew Jackson Fowler.

In the 1870s the Fowler Creek Park site was owned by two adjacent farmers.  Edwards and Bingham owned the east parcel which was donated to the City by the Exxon Corporation, and J. Lendrum owned the west parcel which was purchased for park use from the Mirassou Family.  The old Edwards ranch building still exists just east of the park site.

A large number of descendents of the original families which settled the Evergreen Valley continue to live and raise their families here today.  The past agricultural prosperity of the Evergreen Valley continues.  But as agricultural land becomes residential housing, it is important to acknowledge the history of the Valley and to incorporate it into the future of the community.

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