California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

View of San Jose Post Office from Plaza Park (or St. James Park?), ca.1907

(USC DC Image)

View of San Jose Post Office from Plaza Park (or St. James Park?), ca.1907

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Photograph of a view of San Jose Post Office from Plaza Park (or Saint James Park?), ca.1907. The circular park has a y-shaped walkway where in the center stands a statue. The landscape, consisting flower plants and trees, is beautifully designed. Trees line the circular perimeter of the park. One prominent building, across the street from the park, features castle-like architecture. Behind it is another unique building that features a Moorish or Spanish-like architecture. In the distance is the San Jose's Electric Light Tower.; "San Jose's Electric Light Tower is seen at top left of this old San Jose post card. The tower was conceived by J.J. Owen, editor of the San Jose Mercury News, and was called Owen's Folly by some negative types at the time (gas people). It was duly noted that the tower did not light up all of downtown as advertised. The 1906 earthquake toppled the tower from the U.S. Post Office - note topless Post Office in photo, and in 1915 the San Jose Light Tower would crash down, a casualty of rust and heavy gusts. The Light Tower, erected over the intersection of Market and Santa Clara Streets in 1881, was a landmark feature of San Jose for 34 years. It was designed to light downtown San Jose using six carbon arc lamps at the top of the tower - 24,000 candlepower. The tower was constructed of iron pipe and brace rods and stood 237 feet (counting the 30 foot flagpole), and was described as the seventh wonder of the West. At Christmas the tower was decorated with lights, and on the 4th of July, fireworks crackled from its precipices. A Parisian delegation took copious notes of the tower and skulked back to France to build the Eiffel Tower. San Jose would later sue Paris, unsuccessfully. Ralph Rambo describes the demise of the tower, '... finally the the old tower felt the weight of years and on Dec. 3, 1915 at 11:55 A.M., a wind storm spelled doom. With loud warning groans, the rusty 200 foot skeleton slowly folded like a jack knife and eased its weary bones to the street below.'" -- unknown author.; "A statue/water-fountain of San Francisco prohibitionist dentist Dr. Cogswell provided refreshment for both man and horse." -- unknown author.

Asset Metadata

Title View of San Jose Post Office from Plaza Park (or St. James Park?), ca.1907

Subject buildings (lcsh), buildings (adlf), Churches (lcsh), Libraries (lcsh), Postal service -- Buildings (lcsh), Santa Clara County -- San Jose -- Streets (file heading)

Tags OAI-PMH Harvest

Place California (states), San Jose (city or populated place), San Jose Street (roadway), Santa Clara (counties), Santa Clara Street (roadway), USA (countries)

Temporal Subject 1900

Type images

Format 1 photograph : photonegative, b&w ; 21 x 26 cm. (aacr2), negatives (photographic) (aat), photographs (aat)

Source California Historical Society (contributing entity), California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 (collection), Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960 (subcollection)

Date Created 1900

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Repository Email specol@lib.usc.edu

Repository Name USC Libraries Special Collections

Repository Location Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189

Rights Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Copyright Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Access Conditions Send requests to address or e-mail given

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/chs-m18798

Identifier 8375 (accession number), CHS-8375 (call number), CHS-8375 (filename), chs-m265 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-15950 (legacy record id), chs-m18798 (legacy record id), USC-1-1-1-14353 (legacy record id), 1-211- (microfiche number), USC (project)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 15950

Unique identifier UC136102

Legacy Identifier CHS-8375.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 17.0 in × 13.5 in at 300dpi
43.1 cm × 34.3 cm at 300dpi

Inherited Values

Title Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Description The nearly 15,000 unique photographs of this collection contain the work of C.C. Pierce which cover the Los Angeles region city, street and architectural views, California Missions, Southwestern Native Americans, and turn-of-century Nevada, Arizona, and California. Pierce, active from 1886 to 1940, was one of the leading photographers of his day and amassed a collection of 15,000 images, including his own and those bought and copied from his contemporaries, George Wharton James and Charles Puck. The James collection contains over 2,000 images of portraits, customs, ceremonies, arts, and games of various groups of Southwestern Native Americans.

Date Created 1860/1960

Linked assets

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

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View of a street near the Alameda between Santa Clara Street and San Jose Street, ca.1900

Exterior view of the Post Office, Electric Tower, and Saint Josephs Church, San Jose, California, ca.1900

Exterior view of the second Normal School Building (completed in 1881) in San Jose, ca.1901

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