Chickentown
One Acre and Independence
By Martha Wallace Special Contributor
Publications by Charles Weeks . Source : CSUN Digital Library
In October 2020 , a new Mountain View neighborhood park opened on Wyandotte Street . The park includes sculptures of carved stone chickens . In looking at a map one sees that the neighboring street names are those of chicken breeds : Wyandotte , Plymouth , Leghorn , and Rock . What ’ s the history of the Wyandotte Park area ?
Ohlone Indians were the first known residents , living in small villages , fishing , hunting , and gathering . Then Spanish land grantees and priests cultivated the land and raised cattle . José Peña received permission from the Santa Clara Mission to occupy the land in 1830 . In 1841 , the Mexican government granted Rancho Rincón de San Francisquito to Peña . He sold the land to Teodoro and Secundino Robles in 1847 . After statehood , the Robles brothers filed a claim with the Public Land Commission in 1852 , which was patented in 1868 .
The gold rush brought people from all over the world , including Henry Rengstorff from Germany in 1850 . In the Shoreline area , he built a bayside landing and warehouse for scow schooners , facilitating shipping to and from San Francisco . He purchased farm and ranch land , including part of the Robles rancho south of Charleston Road .
An 1876 map showed the Rengstorff land south of Charleston Road , with neighboring properties owned by the Swall , Huff , Stierlin , Levin , Castro , and Calderon families . By 1903 , streets from town and the railroad were built out toward the Rengstorff farm : Calderon ( through the Calderon property ) and Pastoria ( through the Castro rancho , Pastoria de las Borregas ). Calderon is now Thompson Avenue ; Pastoria became Castro , now Rengstorff Avenue .
Mountain View Records from 1923 show that Rengstorff ’ s son , Henry Andrew Rengstorff , and others gave consent to a subdivision plan for the Sierra Vista Addition , Weeks Home Ranch Colonies . Evidently , Henry sold some of his land to Charles Weeks , an interesting figure in California history .
Charles Weeks was a poultry expert . He came from Indiana in 1904 , settled in Los Altos , and in 1909 , moved to Crescent Park in Palo Alto where he introduced the Weeks Poultry
1929 map showing Weeks Home Ranch Colonies Subdivision
Method , and through various publications spread the word about his self-sustaining lifestyle . People visited his ranch to learn his new method of raising poultry : concentrating birds into coops and using shared technologies , facilities , and marketing , within a social community of common interests . In 1916 , Weeks established the community of Runnymede , now part of East Palo Alto , where he put his utopian ideals to practice , creating one-and-a-half-acre parcels across 600 acres . The subdivision was marketed to “ gentlemen farmers ” who Weeks sold on the idea of making a living raising hens on their properties , while still leaving room for small homes , fruit trees , and grape vines .
In the 1920s , Weeks expanded his concept to Mountain View . The Weeks Home Ranch Colonies subdivision was centered on a new street named “ Independence Avenue ,” likely in reference to his motto , “ One Acre and Independence .” The cross streets were named after chicken breeds : Wyandotte , Plymouth , Leghorn , and Rock . In April of 1923 , the Mountain View colony lots went on sale . This area came to be known as “ Chickentown ” because of the prevalence of poultry raising . Of the 37 people living in the area who listed an occupation in the 1930 census , fourteen were chicken farmers and wholesale egg dealers . By 1940 only six in the area listed poultry farming as a livelihood . The Great Depression severely impacted the business model promoted by Weeks and resulted in the failure of many of his poultry colonies .
As for Weeks , around the same time the Mountain View colonies were created , he turned his attention toward establishing a new colony in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles . Weeks eventually retired to Florida , where he reportedly lived out the remainder of his life growing papayas , raising fishing worms , and skin diving , until his death in 1964 at the age of 91 .
Today , Mountain View ’ s Chickentown is a mix of storage units , townhouse complexes , and shops at the Rengstorff Center . This eclectic mix of land uses can be partly attributed to the narrow but deep parcels Weeks created for raising hens here , which limited the ability for developers to create larger developments and subdivisions like those built elsewhere in Mountain View ’ s former countryside , where large orchard ranches and farms were prevalent .
The next time you drive on Rengstorff , think about how different the area used to be when chickens were the majority of residents in the area !
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