Winter program:“ Italians of Mountain View” was a family affair
MVPD’ s Home Has Evolved for over a Century
Editor’ s note: A version of this article appeared in November 2025 issue of The Lamppost, the quarterly newsletter of the Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association( OMVNA. org).
by Jerry Steach
A visit to the Mountain View Police Department, located inside the Police and Fire Administration building at Villa and Franklin streets, reveals contrasts with its history and its present. A display along a hallway showcases outdated equipment the MVPD has used over the decades, which is situated just around a corner from the department’ s state-of-the-art communications center. Also presenting a contrast is that the 1980 Police and Fire Administration building, which has gotten a bit long in the tooth to sufficiently accommodate the needs of two public-safety departments serving a city at the heart of Silicon Valley modernity.
It’ s not just the agency operations that are located in the easily recognizable building, which has been a fixture of downtown for more than 45 years. An emergency dispatch center, fire department administration, emergency operations, and support
staff all work out of the same location.
However, plans are underway to replace and modernize the entire complex, expanding it more fully across the 4.3-acre site-- including sleeping quarters for police and fire personnel who live far from Mountain View – and address the city’ s evolving public-safety needs. The city council is presently reviewing those plans.
It won’ t be the first time the MVPD, established in 1902, has moved into larger and updated facilities. Doug Johnson, the department’ s resident historian who’ s a veritable fountain of information on the subject, wrote an excellent history of the MVPD. In it he points out that the department’ s first station was“…. just an office within the 1909 City Hall at Castro and California Street. That office was divided into two rooms, one of which was the jail. The jail consisted of an iron cage within a slightly larger room, and most of the jail’ s‘ tenants’ were transients passing through town looking for a warm, dry place to sleep.”
By 1952, the MVPD force of 11 officers were working out of an increasingly crowded office within City Hall – so crowded interviews often had to be conducted outside in patrol cars. These conditions necessitated the construction of a new police station at 947 Villa St. Over following years, additions made to that building weren’ t sufficient for a department that was,
in Doug’ s words,“ bursting at the seams.” Mountain View, in the late 1970s, finally approved plans for what is now the present Police and Fire Administration building, constructed kitty-corner from the previous home of MVPD.
Certainly, Mountain View’ s finest will welcome their eventual new home – a vast change and improvement over the department’ s humble beginnings more a century and a quarter ago.
Winter program:“ Italians of Mountain View” was a family affair
Another large crowd attended the February 1 history event held at the library. Robert Cox presented a comprehensive and expansive program detailing many Italian families, their descendants and the businesses that they created. Using maps and photographs,
Robert showed the integral part that these families played in our local history.
Robert located and invited family members to attend, which provided an extra fun aspect to the gathering. Some of those attending added their perspective as well. After snacks, interested participants visited the History Center upstairs to see family artifacts from our collection. The event even brought old friends back together, for exchanging renewed memories.
Robert Cox discusses one of the beautiful homes of Mountain View’ s Italian families
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