The Roots of Evergreen series
The history of the Evergreen area
The San Francisco Bay region has been a hot spot of human activity long before events were recorded. Our beautiful Evergreen area was part of all that and first became documented in recorded history at the outset of the Spanish Mission period in the 1780s when what we know today as Evergreen became part of a huge Spanish land grant called Rancho Yerba Buena or Rancho Socayre—a 24,332-acre plot of land between Coyote Creek and our Diablo Range foothills. This series will attempt to gather some of the history that affected our present-day Evergreen district during the Spanish, Mexican and post Gold Rush eras.
The Roots of Evergreen installments were published in The Villager the third week of every month between October 17, 2024 and April 16, 2026.
Series written and compiled by S.R. Hinrichs
1. Pioneer rancher John McCarty
History never seems to completely evaporate, it tends to seep into the fabric of the community; leaving fragments of the past in the old ruins, the trees, landforms and in the names of streets and places. Today’s maps of San Jose’s Evergreen district reflect many of the names of local historical figures and features. To name a few instances, McCarty