This newsletter is published four times a year by the MOUNTAIN VIEW HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION P . O . Box 252 , Mountain View , CA 94042 www . mountainviewhistorical . org
MVHA Board of Directors
President : Pamela Baird Vice-President : Robert Cox Secretary : Jamil Shaikh Treasurer : Emily Ramos Past President : Nicholas Perry Historical Data : Vacant Publicity : Marina Marinovich ( acting ) Membership : IdaRose Sylvester ( acting ) Newsletter : John Cortez ( acting ) Ways & Means : Vacant Director-at-Large : Lisa Garcia ( acting ) Director-at-Large : Gil Lane ( acting )
Newsletter Design & Layout by Nicholas Perry
MVHA Board of Directors Email : info @ mountainviewhistorical . org
News & Notes
President ’ s Message
By Pamela Baird MVHA President
In November 2021 the Mountain View Historical Association scheduled walking tours of downtown as the focus of our quarterly general membership meeting . About forty people participated in the tours , which were led by board members . Nick Perry , past president of the board , complied the information and photos used for the tour .
Pamela Baird
Since then , MVHA has been conducting monthly tours on the fourth Sunday of the month . I have had the pleasure of conducting those tours . It ’ s a fun way to share information about the settlement of Mountain View , the growth of downtown and the changes over the past 100 years .
But I ’ ve also learned about Mountain View from those who have participated in the tours . I have gained insight about what it was like to grow up in Mountain View and what impact the closing of the old Mountain View High School on Castro Street had on the community . A woman whose family invested in the original IED Building on Castro ( now called Mountain Bay Plaza ) gave me additional information about the delays in the completion of the building .
Walking in an area without a speci�ic goal or deadline can yield interesting discoveries . When visiting London several years ago , my husband and I happened upon a small cemetery and park . The cemetery , which contains the remains of paupers and prostitutes , was surrounded by a chain link fence covered in ribbons tied with paper remembrances written on them ( more info at : www . smithsonianmag . com / history / london-graveyard-s-become-memorial-citys-seedierpast-180953104 /). Local people have created a beautiful small park with panels explaining the history of the area . We never would have learned of the history of the area if we hadn ’ t have gone walking without a purpose .
Recently a friend and I were walking on a relatively new pathway at Rancho San Antonio Park . We wandered by a boarded up ( but still in good condition ) house at the end of the path . Neither one of us knew anything about the house . In looking at Google maps when I returned home , I learned that the house is the Synder-Hammond House . It was a gift to Martha Snyder from her father when she married Dr . H . W . Hammond in 1881 . Unfortunately , I was unable to �ind much information about the house , which is evidently owned by the Cupertino Historical Society .
During the pandemic my husband I walked a lot in Mountain View and nearby Palo Alto . We discovered a marker at the corner of Alma and Ferne . It recognizes the location of the Secundino Robles Adobe . I ’ ve run by this small marker many times without noticing it ( the marker faces away from Alma Street where I run ). In researching the history of the house , I learned that Secundino and his wife Maria had either 17 or 29 children ! ( more info at : www . archive . org / details / cmv _ 000381 ).
In addition to aiding your good health a walk can add to your knowledge of the area in which you live ( or visit ).
My advice is this — go for a walk ! — Pamela
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