Important dates in the early history of the City of Santa Cruz

Update 3/5: links added to additional information for each date

(This post is a copy of a list composed in response to a solicitation by Santa Cruz Mayor Cynthia Mathews. Collected lists are presumably to be used in preparations for celebration of the City of Santa Cruz sesquicentennial.)  

Detail from 1853 U.S. Coast Survey map

Although I’m perhaps biased toward the earlier history of our area, it does seem undeniable that most of the defining characteristics of the city of Santa Cruz were determined long before city incorporation.

1769 – On October 17, the Portola expedition crossed the river that Franciscan missionary priest Juan Crespi named for “San Lorenzo” (Saint Lawrence). The next day, the party forded the river and, “500 steps” farther on, came to a tributary stream, which was given the name “Arroyo de Santa Cruz” (Creek of the Holy Cross). The expedition’s trail became the main road from Watsonville, and the ford is now the Soquel Avenue bridge.

1791 – On September 26, Mission Santa Cruz was dedicated, transferring the name from the creek.

1794 – On May 10, the relocated mission was rededicated at its new location up on the bluff, where it remained – out of danger from river flooding.

1797 – On July 24, eight settlers arrived from Guadalajara (via Monterey) to found the Villa de Branciforte, a secular pueblo settlement across the river from the mission. In the next year, six retired soldiers came with their families and more followed in following years. Mission and pueblo together formed the basis of today’s City of Santa Cruz.

1824 – On October 4, the first Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States was ratified. The laws of newly-independent Mexico allowed, for the first time, private property ownership in California.

1833 – On August 17, the Mexican Congress passed “An Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California”. The act took away most of the vast land holdings of the twenty-one California missions, transferring it to private ownership. The “rancho” system grew from that privatization, still the basis of land ownership mapping in much of California, including most of Santa Cruz County. Disposition of much of the remaining Santa Cruz mission land was put in the hands of a civilian alcalde (a sort of strong mayor), who was authorized to sell or grant “town lots” to the earliest Santa Cruz settlers. Most of today’s downtown Santa Cruz, originally part of the mission farm and pasture lands, passed to private ownership between 1833 and 1850. 

1848 – Two events in that year radically changed everything forever in Santa Cruz (as in all of California). On January 24, gold was discovered at Sutter’s mill. The resulting “gold rush” increased the non-native population of northern California tenfold within ten years.

On February 2, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican-American War and ceding California to the United States.

1850 – On September 9, as part of the “Compromise of 1850”, California was admitted to the union as a “free” (no slavery) state.

1851 - On April 5, the name “County of Santa Cruz” was adopted, replacing the original name - “County of Branciforte” - within two months of its approval by the state legislature.

1866 – On March 31, the state legislature approved An Act to Incorporate the Town of Santa Cruz. The town corporation was run by an elected, three member Board of Trustees.   

1874 – The first wide-span bridge over the San Lorenzo River into Santa Cruz was completed at the location of today’s Soquel Avenue bridge. Earlier bridges were built at the Water Street ford with piles and short spans (a construction method similar to the Municipal Wharf) and couldn’t survive many winter floods. This first and only covered bridge inside the city limits remained in service until 1922.

1876 – On March 11, the state legislature approved An Act to Reincorporate the City of Santa Cruz, by which Santa Cruz became a charter city. The first publicly-owned City Hall was built on Front Street, where the Museum of Art and History stands now. 

On May 13, the first railroad connection to locations outside the county was completed, and the first narrow-gauge steam locomotive of the Santa Cruz Railroad crossed the San Lorenzo River into Santa Cruz. Today’s trestle and tracks remain in the same locations, at the river mouth and along today’s Beach Street in front of the Beach Boardwalk.

1885 – On June 3, after months of public meetings, the city council approved issuance of $80,000 worth of bonds for the purpose of buying a municipal water system. Although legal challenges held up the process for several years, this was the beginning of the Santa Cruz Municipal Water District.

1905 – On January 17, a special election decided that East Santa Cruz (aka Branciforte) would be annexed to the City of Santa Cruz. Results were announced in the Morning Sentinel of February 7.