The Gilroy Colonia, WWII-1960

Title

The Gilroy Colonia, WWII-1960

Description

During the Spanish colonial era, two land grants (Rancho Las Animas and Rancho San Ysidro) comprised what is now the region known as Gilroy. Additional land grants were issued during the Mexican era. The city of Gilroy was eventually named after a Scottish immigrant, John Cameron, who came to Monterey in 1814 and changed his name to Juan Bautista Gilroy after converting to Catholicism. He worked on Rancho San Ysidro, marrying the ranchero’s daughter Maria Clara Ortega, and became a naturalized Mexican citizen. Eventually he inherited a part of Rancho San Ysidro and raised cattle. During the American Period, Gilroy incorporated as a town (1868), and most of the Mexican rancho land passed into the hands of Anglo farmers and ranchers. In the late 1850s much of Rancho Los Animas (12,000 acres) was sold to Henry Miller, a famed cattleman in the Miller & Lux Company, which lobbied for the railroad to run through Gilroy in order to facilitate their cattle raising/butchering operations. The area boasted prune, cherry, and apricot orchards, with the producer exchange Sunsweet overseeing the drying of these crops for market. In the early 1960s, orchards were replaced by row crops of tomatoes, sugar beets, and garlic.

Prior to WWII, Mexican immigrants migrated to work in the orchards and fields, living temporarily on the ranches where they worked. Some Mexicans, such as the García family who migrated from Texas, began moving into Gilroy during WWII. They initially bought a large apartment complex, the Guadalupe Apartments, on Eigelberry and 7th Street, and then opened the Post Office Market on 6th Street and Monterey Road, which they sold and then established García (card) Club in 1952 on Monterey Road between 6th and 7th Street facing the railroad. The Mexican businesses of the García family were unique. Gilroy was a small town, so there was not a separate Mexican business district, and Mexican residents did not attend separate schools or theaters. Instead Wednesday was “Mexican Night” at the Anglo-owned Strand Theater, with headliners such as Cantinflas appearing on occasion.

It was not until WWII and later that Mexicans moved into higher paid, unionized cannery work. Though still seasonal, it was flexible enough to allow workers to move to other jobs when necessary. Employment at the Felice and Perrelli Cannery (1914-1997) enabled several generations of Mexican families to establish roots in town. The Gilroy Mexican Colonia appeared south of 7th Street, with some settling on the westside of Monterey Road and the majority living east of Monterey Road next to the canneries and railroad tracks.

Additional Online Information

Gilroy Historical Society

Immigrants Play Big Part in Gilroy History

Identifier

B4SV Exhibit Topic Four: Slide 003