How the Town Became a City: Santa Cruz, 1876

The coming of the railroads to Santa Cruz produced a new spurt of commercial and civic activity in the formerly isolated town. One sign of the area’s growth and increasing economic importance came in 1876, when the town of Santa Cruz received a new charter from the state and became the City of Santa Cruz, with its first mayor. One of the new city government’s first acts, of course, was to build a City Hall. It stood on Front Street, where the Museum of Art and History is now, and was completed in 1877.

The City Hall location shows how downtown development steadily progressed from its beginnings at the lower plaza toward the bay. By 1877, most of the early adobe or rough plank-sided one-story commercial buildings had been replaced by much more detailed two-story structures of wood or brick. Beginning with the in 1860, the new-style buildings marched steadily south along Pacific Avenue and Front Street. The lower plaza itself got a facelift, too. The Anthony Block, built by Elihu Anthony in 1877 to replace the original 1848 building, stood where the Town Clock is today Anthony’s new building joined the 1867 St. Charles Hotel, which once stood on the corner of Mission Street and River Street (now North Pacific), where the little park is today. Note that the properties along the north side of the lower plaza were much larger then, before Water and Mission Streets were realigned and widened.

Speaking of the Town Clock, the building that originally supported that clock tower was built in 1873. Known as the Oddfellows Building because it was home to the Santa Cruz chapter of that fraternal organization, the tall clock tower made it a local landmark. The original wooden tower was rebuilt in brick after being damaged by fire in 1899. A comparison of the photos of the original tower and today’s Town Clock reveals that, when the tower was rebuilt, it was also somewhat redesigned.

Another funny story about the clock - most would agree these days that it’s pleasant to hear the clock chime the hours as you’re walking around downtown, but that wasn’t always a welcome sound. In 1929, when the clock still stood atop the Oddfellows Building, the chimes were shut down because of complaints from residents in nearby hotels. So, from 1929 until 1976, that sound was not heard in Santa Cruz.

In 1964, the tower was removed and put into storage when the Oddfellows Building was remodeled. Ironically, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake doomed the Oddfellows Building, but the unwanted clock tower was safe. In an early example of “reuse, recycle, restore”, the Oddfellows clock tower became the top section of the present Town Clock, completed just in time for the nation’s centennial in 1976.

Where did the Oddfellows meet before getting their own building? They were nearby, in the McPherson Building at the corner of Pacific and Locust. Built in 1868 for , who by this time owned the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper, the building is the third oldest building in the Pacific Avenue - Front Street commercial area (after Zoccoli’s and Lulu Carpenter’s). The partial third story and the unfortunate Mission Revival-style remodel were added later.

In addition to providing a meeting space for the Oddfellows, the McPherson Building was the Sentinel’s first self-owned home. The newspaper offices moved from rented space in the building right across Locust Street. More irony – the brick building owes its survival of the 1989 earthquake to the fact that it was damaged by an earthquake during construction. While repairing the damage, the builders added iron reinforcing bolts to strengthen the brick walls, and so it still stands today, though remodeled several times. Note the pattern: the 1868 McPherson Building is closer to the lower plaza than the 1873 Oddfellows Building or the 1877 City Hall.

Main source for this post: Chase, John L. Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture (3rd ed. 2005)