Ulistac: From Rancho to Orchard to Golf Course

In 1846, Governer Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, granted the land that now includes Ulistac to Marcello and his companion Cristobal (as one of four such grants to natives in the county). Rancho Ulistac spread across 2217 acres of lowland between Saratoga Creek and Guadalupe River. Following the Mexican-American War, the land was transferred into the possession of Jacob D. Hoppe, the first American postmaster of San Jose. Hoppe was killed in a steamboat explosion in 1853 and his heirs sold the land in 1860. The census of 1860 identified only 160 Indians in Santa Clara County; the Tares had almost entirely vanished. Anglo-American pioneers C.Evans and A.C. Erkson had begun construction of houses by the end of the 1850s on some sections near the current open space site. By 1876, the land had changed hands again; E. Burrell, W. Hannibal, and P. Fenton had each built homes on their respective parcels. In the 1860s and 1870s, farming began on the Ulistac land, although the few Indians left remained on or near the site. The Guadalupe flooded every year and the ground was unused until the waters receded. Low-lying crops and fruit-bearing vegetation were planted during this period. In 1885, 1650 acres of Rancho Ulistac were developed as a site for a state mental hospital. Destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, leaving 125 dead, it was shortly rebuilt. The hospital was surrounded by fields of undeveloped space as part of the Agnews campus. An eight-foot earthen levee was installed along the river to help control flooding. In the early 1940s, the ground was graded and leveled to create a pear orchard as part of the booming fruit industry of the Santa Clara Valley. Santa Clara in general was to become a renowned fruit packing center as orchards sprang up throughout the valley. A decade later, the land was converted again, this time to become a golf course. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers altered the river's route by constructing 15-foot levees to form a straight channel in the 1960s. A section of the former levee remains on the Ulistac land along the east side of the north pond, which is an oxbow from the river. When it was developed into a golf course, the pear trees were removed. In their place, native and exotic species were planted to delineate the fairways. Sand bunkers and ponds were installed, including the south pond, which has since been filled in.