What’s New
We have been busy at the Archive and have added and improved several areas. Over the years we have accumulated many maps. Over the last year we have completed digitizing all of the collection, now consisting of over 850 maps, the earliest from 1857. Watsonville...
Marinovich Building Sign Donated to PVHA
The Marinovich Building, constructed in 1899, graced the Peck Street / Union Street corner of the downtown square for many years, providing a human-scale presence that charmed with its bowed bay windows and architectural scrollwork. Sadly, the building was demolished...
Watsonville On The Move – Literally
When Watsonville was growing beyond its early existence as a small town, downtown space was at a premium, for building the new commercial and industrial edifices that reflected the town’s growth. To make room for that growth, there were many houses, built on those...
The First Schools in Aromas
Above: First schoolhouse in Aromas In the 1870s with the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, pioneer farmers began settling in Aromas. With more families moving to Aromas, the Aromas School District was formed in 1889. The first classes were held on the Weeks’...
Apple Annual
By Elijah Ezeji-Okoye For a short time in Watsonville’s earlier history, autumn was marked by the coming of the Apple Annual. In the early 1900s, the city’s apple industry burgeoned, with new orchards, packinghouses, and shipping centers cropping up across the...
Peter Hauer Family and the Hauer Apple History
By Claire Etienne (Peter Hauer’s great niece and daughter of Muriel Hauer Etienne) Peter Hauer created the Hauer apple around 1900 in Pleasant Valley, near Watsonville. The Hauer apple is an “antique apple.” It is one of only two varieties said to have originated in...
Christmas is Coming!
The Bockius-Orr house, trees, and yard will be lit up for Christmas again this year. Drive by in the evening to see the beautiful lights between November 23 until January 1. (Time approx.. 5pm. – 10 p.m.) The Bockius-Orr house will also have a...
Watsonville Plaza Revitalization
Watsonville historian Betty Lewis wrote “Don Sebastian Rodriguez owned the land grant, Bolsa del Pajaro, on which the city of Watsonville now rests. Some historians say he gave the area now known as the City Plaza to the people of Watsonville in 1860, but Sebastian...
PVHA History
For the last 170 years, the Pajaro Valley has been an opportunity for many different immigrants to improve themselves. Most came with a little except for the desire to make a better life for themselves and their families. The Pajaro Valley was a place where immigrants...
Past Floods
Pajaro at San Juan Road 1937