San Jose Attractions

Santa Clara County

Location and general

This rapidly progressing town, situated 37mi/60km from San Francisco, is also one of the oldest in the country. Its population has increased ten-fold since the end of the Second World War, and will probably exceed that of San Francisco when the next census is taken. In spite of all its efforts, however, it still does not have a proper town center; even more so than Los Angeles, it is simply a collection of suburbs strung together.

Origin

San Jose was founded in 1777, under the name of Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. The Mission established 20 years later is now situated outside the town in Fremont, while the Santa Clara Mission built in the pueblo now forms part of the town of Santa Clara, founded during the Gold Rush period. By 1848 there were still only 700 people living in San Jose; when it gained the status of a town two years later, however, it boasted 3,000 inhabitants.

Economy

San Jose lies in the extremely fertile Santa Clara Valley, where a great variety of fruit, grapes and vegetables are cultivated. The agricultural products have always been dispatched from San Jose, where the first canning factory was built in 1871. Nevertheless the town could muster only 21,500 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century, but 40 years later there were 57,000. Then the real upswing began, giving San Jose its reputation of being the town with the greatest population growth in the world.

The chief branch of industry continues to be the processing of agricultural products. This is followed by the computer, chemical and engineering industries (especially atomic engineering) which have contributed greatly to San Jose's economic growth.

Culture

The town's cultural life has not kept pace with its unbridled demographic and economic development, in spite of having a big Performing Arts Center, a Symphony Orchestra and a large Congress Building surrounded by nine hotels which was opened in 1989. The expansion of the nearby airport, which at present deals with six million passengers and is expected to be able to take two or three times as many by the end of the century, will not be able to compensate for the town's cultural shortcomings.