Health & Fitness
1876 Santa Cruz Painting Shows Many Changes
A large oil painting called View of Santa Cruz, 1876, shows many changes since the first city-wide view of 1870.
The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) has a permanent exhibit room devoted to local history. One of my favorite items on display there is a large oil painting called View of Santa Cruz, 1876, by Leon Trousset.
The painting is a panoramic (nearly 180 degree) view of Santa Cruz, looking west from the bluffs on the east side of the San Lorenzo River near its mouth (approximately at today’s corner of Buena Vista and Riverview, but Trousset’s view is obstructed by houses). It’s a testament to the painter’s skill that, when viewing the painting, you don’t realize the field of view is so wide. It’s probably not possible to capture the same scene with a camera.
A few posts back, we looked at a “bird’s eye view” of Santa Cruz from 1870 (view it in detail online). A lot happened in our town between 1870 and 1876, and you can see many of those changes by comparing the two pictures. After 1876, new construction slowed way down until about 1884.
Prominent features of the Trousset painting missing from the 1870 view include the Santa Cruz Railroad (1876), with its new trestle over the San Lorenzo River. It can be found at lower left in the painting. Follow the railroad tracks along the beach and there’s the Liebbrandt brothers’ Dolphin Bath House, first precursor of today’s Beach Boardwalk. Still farther along the beach, you’ll find one-two-three wharfs. The middle one is the brand-new railroad wharf (1875).
At the far right of the painting is Ocean View Avenue, which opened in 1871 atop the bluff. Prominent at street’s end is the Ocean Villa resort, which stood where Ocean View Park is today. Beyond Ocean Villa to the right is Martha Wilson’s 2½-story house, which still stands today (extensively remodeled in the late 1880s).
Beyond Ocean Villa to the left is Mission Hill. The distance makes details harder to pick out, but (right to left) the 1857 Holy Cross Church is recognizable, then the Sisters’ School. Both structures can be seen in greater detail in the 1870 lithograph but, to the left of the Sister’s School is the brand-new 3-story Mission Hill School with its tall cupola. That building replaced the original school shown in the 1870 view.
Below and to the left of the school, you’ll find the 1866 County Courthouse with its cupola. To the left of the courthouse is the Oddfellows Building (1873) with the Town Clock on top. Below both of those structures is the Soquel Avenue covered bridge, which opened in 1874.
More about the painter, Leon Trousset: in the same year of 1876, he also created (from verbal descriptions only - the front of the chapel collapsed in 1857), the painting of Mission Santa Cruz chapel that served as the basis for the half-scale replica that now stands on the east side of Mission Plaza (Trousset’s mission painting is on display there). The original chapel stood where Holy Cross Church is today).
A reminder: First Friday is this week, and a great time to visit MAH - for free. While you’re there, go up to the second level and check out Trousset’s painting.
