SANTA CLARA
Tucked into the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara is a thriving city. Its beginnings are rooted in the historic Mission of Santa Clara de Asis, giving the town its nickname, “The Mission City.” When California was annexed by the United States in 1846, the hamlet of Santa Clara was officially recognized.
One of California’s oldest settlements, Santa Clara features tree-lined streets that play host to a variety of ornate Victorian homes and community parks. The city seems to have everything-a convention center, Great America theme park, a major shopping mall, a world famous swim center (where numerous.
Olympians have trained) and dozens of high tech businesses. Santa Clara even operates its own electricity utility which provides power for more than 50,000 customers at rates as much as 40% below its neighboring communities. In fact, its electric rates are some of the lowest in the Bay Area.
Santa Clara has always offered a strategic location-both back in the 1970’s when Franciscan fathers chose to build the mission on attractive meadowland directly south of San Francisco, and today. The modern city is only four miles from San Jose International Airport, is very near highways 101 and 880 and has access to both the VTA light rail and Caltrain.
The only thing Santa Clara is missing is a downtown, which was lost in the 1950’s and 60’s when the historic buildings were knocked down to make room for a shopping mall that was never completed. Santa Clara residents seemed to have learned from this mistake and have been careful to preserve other elements of the past. In 1997, the city purchased the Berryessa Adobe, built in the 1840’s and lived in by generations of immigrant families. Restored to its former splendor, the adobe is open to the public and is one of the last such dwellings in Santa Clara Valley.
The best known landmark remains the Mission Santa Clara de Asis, the eighth of California’s 21 missions. Although little of the original building remains, a rebuilt church is situated among the roses and palm trees of the historic gardens on the grounds of Santa Clara University. Founded in 1851, the college is California’s oldest operating institution of higher learning. Today it is thriving with more than 8,000 students and separate undergraduate schools for the arts and sciences, engineering, and business, as well as several post graduate programs.
More change are in the future for this historic town. The San Francisco 49er’s are building a new stadium in Santa Clara. The team currently trains at a facility Santa Clara. This facility will draw football fans from the entire Bay Area. It will bring a huge financial stimulus. People will come and enjoy superb dining and shopping.
The other newcomer is Apple. They have purchased the HP property and are developing a new state of the art campus which will see a huge stimulus to the surrounding neighborhoods. It will have a circular almost UFO appearance.
Santa Clara is the perfect town to live, work, raise a family or retire in. If you would like more information on this wonderful community, please feel free to contact us.