Hard to believe, but 100 years ago all it took to incorporate
this town was 65
”
yes
”
ballots
– out of 101 cast. The town’s population numbered 500.
Morgan Hill – Hard to believe, but 100 years ago all it took to incorporate this town was 65 “yes” ballots – out of 101 cast.
The town’s population numbered 500.
Also hard to imagine – on another page of local history – is Morgan Hill during World War II years, when local Japanese residents were interned, and other residents climbed El Toro Mountain to watch for enemy bombers.
Added together with countless other stories, a picture of Morgan Hill’s history emerges.
Hoping to make that picture clearer – and walkable – for the public, Morgan Hill volunteers broke ground Monday for the city’s Centennial History Trail, located at the Villa Mira Monte historic grounds on Monterey Road.
Morgan Hill City Councilman Steve Tate, co-chairman of the Centennial Project Committee that generated the idea last summer, gave an overview of the project’s own history.
“We wanted a to build a trail along which you have markers capturing events of the town,” he said. “The more we thought about it, the more it made sense to do it here at the Morgan Hill House, to ensure its permanency.”
At brainstorming sessions that began last summer, Tate said, the committee picked 90 local events to memorialize on ceramic tiles and marble stones, which will be mounted on three-foot high metal brackets along a small, spiraling trail in front of the Morgan Hill House, the former residence of Diana and Hiram Morgan Hill. The family owned much of the land that became Morgan Hill.
Upon its completion in November, the picturesque memorial will teach visitors – including groups of elementary school students – about 100 important moments in the town’s history.
Local events will be denoted on ceramic tiles, national events will be etched on marble stones.
Centennial Project Committee Co-Chairman Roger Knopf said the trail would easily last a century of its own.
“This project, besides the left-over hats and T-shirts, will be the tangible result of our centennial celebration,” Knopf said.
Former Morgan Hill City Councilwoman and local historian Beth Wyman praised the idea of “walking through history.”
“I think it’s great the Morgan Hill Historical Society has donated their time to doing this with the committee,” said Wyman, who was elected to the council in 1978, and who published “Hiram Morgan Hill,” a book on local history, in 1983.
Part of the Centennial History Trail connects with the future: A time capsule is to be buried under the trail in November, with instructions not to open until 2106. The capsule is 12 inches in diameter and three feet long – but currently unfilled.
Volunteers have not yet finalized its contents, but Centennial Committee Chairwoman Jennifer Tate, Steve’s wife, said it would likely include artifacts from Morgan Hill’s four sister cities, a computer disc representation of Morgan Hill’s Web site and things donated by Morgan Hill Unified School District students.
“We laughed about the computer disc,” Tate said. “Technology will probably be so far ahead they won’t be able to read it. So, we’re including hard copy printouts, too.”
Just what will folks opening the capsule say about our present-day Morgan Hill?
“They’ll probably say, ‘Oh my God, we’re still quibbling over land issues and taxes!’ ” Tate joked.
Wyman, who served on the city council from 1978 to 1982, and now lives in Saratoga, said future generations will think the current Morgan Hill is tiny.
“People say to me now, ‘Morgan Hill sure has grown a lot!’ ” Wyman said. “So, I imagine it will have grown a lot more. I understand from planners the population is going to grow whether we like it or not, and if we don’t have a place for them to live, it’s going to be unplanned growth.”
For better or worse, she envisions a bustling Coyote Valley neighbor, more traffic on Highway 101 and more students for Morgan Hill’s school district. But that’s another history trail waiting to happen.
