The Valley of Heart's Delight
Mayfield
Mayfield is sixteen miles northwest of San Jose. It has a
perfectly working $35,000 sewer system and a supply of artesian water,
pure and inexhaustible. After a chemical analysis of the water, the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company selected Mayfield as a site for the
erection of a 60,000-gallon water tank for through trains.
The town has fine railway connections. There are the
Blossom route to San Jose, the Waverly Avenue extension from Palo Alto,
and Stanford University and other lines in prospect. A municipal water
plant is run on a paying basis, there is a modern grammar school,
churches, electric lighting and every up-to-date public service,
including a newspaper, the Mayfield News, published by W. J.
Nichols. (transcribers note- according to the bio of T. B. Nichols he was the editor of the Mayfield News- I am pursuing further resources to verify this-cdf)
There are two fruit canneries, the Bayside and the Lock Foon, the later
conducted by a Chinaman who owns and operates another cannery at
Alviso. The town also has a Chamber of Commerce, a town hall, a bank,
churches, schools and fraternal organizations. Fruit growing, dairying
and chicken raising are the principal industries. The California
Chicken Company's ranch is one of the largest on the coast. (see the bio of Charles Weeks of Runnymede)
The proximity of Stanford University gives the town exceptional
educational advantages. The trustees are R. L. Pitcher, chairman;
Stephen Anderson, Frank Minaker, T. B. Scott, E. J. Kingham. S. M.
Cuthbertson is the clerk.
Mayfield was settled in 1853, and in 1855 a postoffice was established.
The railroad arrived in 1864, but the station was located
three-quarters of a mile from town. Two years afterward it was removed
to its present position. William Paul regularly laid out the town
in 1867.
Transcribed by Linda Grettty, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922, page 299
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