Names on the Signs: The Trees (originally published Jan. 21, 2012)
The new Town of Santa Cruz Board of Trustees got busy soon after getting
organized in 1866. One of their first actions was to commission a map of the
growing town. The job went to Solomon W. Foreman, a local civil engineer, and
Thomas W. Wright, the County Surveyor. Wright had already created many maps for local
landowners, but the Foreman & Wright map of 1866 was the first with a civic
purpose.
Along with creation of the map, many streets were given official names for the first time, and the name of Willow Street
was officially changed to Pacific Avenue.
The change may have had a connection to the grand new Pacific Ocean House Hotel (see 21 - The
Town). Or maybe the Trustees decided that the street which had surpassed Main Street as
the primary conduit of downtown commerce needed a more powerful name - from the
humble Willow to the mighty Pacific. Whatever the reasons, the
change obscured some local history and began a trend away from naming Santa
Cruz streets after local native trees and other useful plants.
Willow Street had been so-named because the mission padres planted
a row (one source says a double row) of willow trees marking the edge of their cultivated fields. The trees
were spaced at ten-foot intervals, and strips of leather were tied between
them, serving as a crude fence intended maybe to keep stray livestock out of
the fields. As the only road running from downtown to the bay, Willow Street became more important as shipping traffic increased
during the 1850s. Smaller lots were created along both sides of the street,
which began to be filled with commercial and residential buildings. By 1861, most of the
willow trees had been cut down, their original function no longer necessary.
The southeast corner of the cultivated mission land was near today's corner of Pacific Ave. and Laurel St. In the detail above from an 1870 "bird's eye" view of Santa Cruz, thirteen large, evenly spaced trees can be seen at the edge of the roadway, rounding the inside of that corner. It seems plausible that those are the last of the old mission willows.
Did anyone lament the loss of this tribute to one of the most common yet
important local trees? Apparently not, for no other Santa Cruz street has since been named Willow. In fact, of all the downtown streets named after
trees, very few are local species. Neither have the iconic Monterey trees earned any recognition downtown. You'll have to cross the San Lorenzo River to find Cypress Avenue and Pine Street.
The transplanted north-easterners, who by
1866 formed the core of the downtown business community, were perhaps a bit
homesick and chose to name streets mostly after eastern trees. Take a hike in
the area and you’ll search in vain for a native Cedar, Locust, Elm, Chestnut or Myrtle. I'll give them a pass on Spruce, since our Douglas Fir was often called a spruce back in those days.
Walnut, Maple and Sycamore are better choices. Native varieties of those trees grow
both locally and in the northeast. Walk along the San Lorenzo River north of the levees and you’ll find both maples and
sycamores, along with alder, cottonwood, oak, buckeye and - of course - willow.
I’m suspicious of Laurel
Street -
although our local bay tree is a type of laurel, I doubt that it was known as a
laurel in 1866. Several species of laurel are, however, very common in the
northeast, where they contribute to the famous fall colors. We could pretend
that Bay Street
was named for our local tree rather than the body of water, but no. Special recognition goes to UCSC for the
Bay Tree Bookstore, even though it's not downtown. Even the mighty redwood gets
snubbed. Instead we have the generic Evergreen Street
and Cemetery over in the Harvey West
area.
When I take a walk downtown, I’d like to see more signs that are reminders of
the native trees and other plants that contributed to the mid-19th-century
growth of the Santa Cruz region (not to mention earlier Ohlone communities).
Our town is surrounded by forests of redwood, oak, madrone, fir and pine that
provided lumber for building, fuel for the lime kilns and charcoal for the
Powder Company. The tanbark oak was essential for tanning leather. Hazel,
willow and alder were all used for barrel hoops in the construction of wooden
barrels for lime and other export products. And, of course, the leaves of the
bay tree contribute to the flavor of our native Italian cuisine. On the other
hand, to be fair, there’s no reason why the 1866 Board of Trustees should have
felt compelled to consider my arguments when they chose street names. Our
downtown “tree streets” are instead a reminder that a substantial group of
ambitious and energetic people native to the northeastern states settled in
Santa Cruz and were active in their 1860s community.
