665 W. Olive Ave
Sunnyvale, CA
94086
408.730.7300
The Sunnyvale Collection
Sunnyvale - Silicon Valley - San Francisco

It is the mission of the Sunnyvale Collection to preserve and share a record of the evolution of our community, past and present. 

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                to 1879       1880-1899       1900-1919       1920-1939       1940-1959       1960-1979       1980+


1880s
Chinese workers make up 48% of farm labor in Santa Clara County. Population declines in following decades because of Chinese Exclusion Act

1884
Martin Murphy Jr. dies, land divided among heirs

1886
San Jose Board of Trade promotes Santa Clara County as the "Garden of the World"
1880s
William Wright builds a two-story house, now the oldest building in Sunnyvale

1888
Refrigerated rail car further increases economic viability of orchards

 

1890s
Large-scale immigration from Italy, Azores, Portugal and Japan to the orchards of Santa Clara County

 

1897
Walter Everett Crossman buys 200 acres, lays out streets and surveys one acre lots. Advertises land in "Beautiful Murphy"

Encina School opens. Sunnyvale children no longer traveled to school in Mountain View

 

 

1899
Encina School District established

 

next > 1900-1919

 
Photographs courtesy of the California History Center.
Information chiefly from:
Mary Jo Ignoffo. (1994). Sunnyvale, from the City of Destiny to the Heart of Silicon Valley. Cupertino, California: California History Center & Foundation.