Street Talk
Whisman
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By Nick Perry
Newsletter Editor
As we look forward to our Winter Event focused on the history of
transportation in Mountain View, let’s learn the history behind
a name long associated with transportation in Mountain ViewWhisman!
John and Margaret Whisman came to the Santa Clara Valley
in 1846 and are considered the first American settlers in the
Mountain View area. Shortly after they arrived, they established
the Willigrove Inn on the southwest corner of what is now
Moffett Field.
Advertisement for John W. Whisman’s Willigrove Inn from the Oct. 25, 1848
“Alta California” newspaper.
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Today, three Mountain View streets carry the Whisman family
name. The historic Whisman Road is one of the oldest streets
in the area, and once connected the old Mtn. View-Alviso Road
(Hwy 237) with landings on the San Francisco Bay. The road
was cut to its present length when Moffett Field was built in
1933. Whisman Park Drive and Whisman Station Drive are two
newer streets that lead to VTA’s Whisman light rail station, which
opened in 1999. In addition to these streets, two neighborhoods,
North Whisman and Whisman Station, and the Mountain ViewWhisman School District ensure that this early pioneer family’s
name is not forgotten.
Whisman
House
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In those days, two roads connected San Jose with San Francisco,
the Upper San Francisco Road (El Camino Real) and the Lower
San Francisco Road, which roughly traces the route of today’s
Bayshore Highway (US 101). In 1849, John Whisman started
one of the first stagecoach lines in California. Whisman’s line
on the Lower San Francisco Road carried passengers between
San Francisco and San Jose on a nine-hour journey. The line was
short lived: A stormy winter that flooded local roads and thieving
drivers forced Whisman to sell his stage line in 1850.
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When this 1876 map was published Whisman Road from Mtn.
View-Alviso Road (Hwy. 237) through what is now Moffett Field
and to the ship landings on the San Francisco Bay.
A c. 1950s MVHA historic sign near the NASA Ames Childcare
Center marks the site of the Whisman house and Willowg rove Inn.
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