50 Fun Facts About San Jose

San Jose is the county seat of which California county?

It sits in the Santa Clara Valley at the southern end of San Francisco Bay and covers about 180 square miles.

In which year was San Jose founded as the Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe?

It was the first civilian town in the Californias, founded by José Joaquín Moraga on November 29; Los Angeles followed in 1781.

The name San Jose honours which biblical figure?

The full name meant "the Town of Saint Joseph of Guadalupe"; the original pueblo stood near today's Plaza de César Chávez.

What distinction did San Jose hold when California joined the Union in 1850?

Legislators met there from 1849 to 1851 before decamping to Vallejo; the site of the first capitol is now Plaza de César Chávez.

California's first legislative sessions, held in San Jose in 1850 and 1851, earned what boozy nickname?

Unhappy with the lack of suitable buildings, the legislators accepted Mariano Vallejo's offer of land for a new capital at Benicia.

Who was San Jose's first mayor after incorporation in 1850?

Belden had crossed the California Trail with the Bartleson Party in 1841 and made a fortune; Fallon had captured the pueblo in 1846.

Which mayor adopted the motto "Capital of Silicon Valley" in 1988?

Two years later the 1990 census showed San Jose had overtaken San Francisco as the Bay Area's most populous city.

According to which census did San Jose first surpass San Francisco in population?

It is now the 13th most populous US city, though it slipped back under one million residents after 2020, only the second US city ever to do so.

Before San Jose, which was the only US city to fall back below one million residents?

The 2022 estimate of 971,233 was a 4.1% drop from the 2020 census, blamed on housing costs and remote work.

Before the tech boom, the orchard-filled region around San Jose went by what nickname?

Prunes, grapes and apricots were major crops before urban sprawl ate the orchards in the 1970s.

Which vegetable was first farmed commercially in the United States in San Jose in 1922?

Brothers Stephano and Andrea D'Arrigo started it; their company still sells produce under the Andy Boy label.

San Jose's Almaden Valley is named for mines producing which metal, vital to gold-rush ore processing?

The New Almaden mines also supplied mercury fulminate for military blasting caps from 1870 to 1945; the site is now Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

Which company was the city's largest employer for years until its cannery closed in 1999?

World War II shifted the economy toward manufacturing when FMC was contracted to build 1,000 amphibious landing vehicles.

Which company opened San Jose operations in 1943 and later invented the hard disk drive there?

Reynold Johnson's team built the RAMAC 305 at the IBM lab opened in 1952, launching the city's tech economy.

What was Charles Herrold's 1909 station, regarded as the first with scheduled radio programming, called?

His wife Sybil became the first female disc jockey in 1912; the station eventually became KCBS in San Francisco.

Which of these tech companies is headquartered in San Jose?

Cisco, eBay, PayPal, NetApp, Cadence and Zoom are also based in the city; Apple is in Cupertino and Google in Mountain View.

San Jose's mansion tourist attraction was built over decades by the widow of which kind of magnate?

Sarah Winchester's husband William Wirt Winchester was heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune; she moved west in 1886.

When Sarah Winchester died in 1922, how many rooms did her San Jose house contain?

It also had 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways and 13 bathrooms; at its largest, before disaster struck, it had about 500 rooms.

What destroyed the seven-story tower of the Winchester house?

Sarah Winchester had the rubble cleared but did little more, leaving doors that open onto nothing and stairs that end suddenly.

How long after Sarah Winchester's death did her house open as a tourist attraction?

The myths about round-the-clock construction to appease spirits grew up around the tours; historians say construction actually paused for years.

Lick Observatory, east of San Jose, sits on top of which mountain?

It was the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory; San Jose switched to sodium street lamps to cut its light pollution.

Where is James Lick, the observatory's benefactor, buried?

He was interred there in 1887 beneath the future site of the 36-inch refractor, with a brass plaque reading "Here lies the body of James Lick".

Which moon of Jupiter, the first found since Galileo's time, was discovered at Lick Observatory in 1892?

Charles Perrine later found the sixth and seventh moons, Himalia and Elara, there in 1905.

San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum holds the largest ancient Egyptian collection in which region?

It was founded by the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, whose leader Harvey Spencer Lewis had helped fund digs at Amarna in the 1920s.

San Jose State University, founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in which region?

It began as a normal school in San Francisco, moved to San Jose in 1871 and became the founding campus of the California State University system.

What nickname did San Jose State's track team earn while producing Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Lee Evans?

Smith and Carlos gave the raised-fist salute on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics; a statue of them stands on campus.

Which two San Jose State alumni won a combined four Super Bowls as NFL head coaches?

Other alumni include Amy Tan, Lou Henry Hoover and competitive eater Joey Chestnut; Intel and Oracle were founded by SJSU alumni.

What is the mascot name of San Jose State's sports teams?

They compete in the Mountain West Conference; SJSU athletes have competed at every Olympics since 1948.

In which season did the San Jose Sharks begin play in the NHL?

They spent two seasons at the Cow Palace in Daly City before moving to the San Jose Arena in 1993.

"Sharks" was actually the runner-up in the fan vote to name the team. What name finished first?

The Gund brothers worried "Blades" sounded like weapons; more than 5,000 names were mailed in.

The Sharks' arena is nicknamed the Shark Tank. Which software company holds its naming rights?

It opened in 1993 as San Jose Arena, became Compaq Center in 2001 and HP Pavilion in 2002 before SAP's 2013 deal.

Which team beat the Sharks in their only Stanley Cup Final appearance, in 2016?

San Jose won the Presidents' Trophy in 2008-09 but has never lifted the Cup.

Which former Norris Trophy winner was named the Sharks' first captain in 1991?

He later served as the team's general manager; Pat Falloon was the first draft pick.

What was the San Jose Earthquakes' name when they began MLS play in 1996?

Nike, a major MLS investor, pushed for the name; the club reverted to Earthquakes in 1999.

Who scored the first goal in MLS history for the Clash against D.C. United in April 1996?

The inaugural game drew 31,683 to Spartan Stadium on April 6, 1996.

In which years did the Earthquakes win their two MLS Cups?

The team also won Supporters' Shields in 2005 and 2012, and its 2005 roster moved to Houston to become the Dynamo.

San Jose's PayPal Park was picked to host eight 2028 Olympic matches in which sport?

The 18,000-seat stadium opened in 2015 as the Earthquakes' home and was named among the LA 2028 soccer venues.

San Jose's airport is named after which local politician who served as US Secretary of Transportation?

Mineta was interned as a boy during World War II, became mayor of San Jose and later served under both Clinton and George W. Bush.

Which airline carried more than half of all passengers at San Jose's airport in 2021?

Alaska Airlines was second with about 19%; SJC is the Bay Area's second-busiest airport after SFO.

Who sang the 1968 hit "Do You Know the Way to San Jose"?

Burt Bacharach wrote the music and Hal David the lyrics; it won Warwick her first Grammy.

Alum Rock, established in 1872 in East San Jose, holds what distinction?

Established in 1872, it was famous for its mineral springs and was once reached by its own railroad.

San Jose's Sikh Gurdwara is the largest outside which country?

The city also has one of the world's largest overseas Vietnamese communities and historic Japantown and Little Portugal enclaves.

San Jose's Children's Discovery Museum holds a Guinness record for the largest permanent version of which board game?

The giant board sits in an outdoor park-like setting beside the museum.

San Jose's Ira F. Brilliant Center holds the largest collection outside Europe devoted to which composer?

Housed at San Jose State, it is the only institution of its kind in North America.

San Jose's 1957 Sister City link with Okayama, Japan, was which such US relationship?

The national Sister Cities programme had begun just the year before; San Jose went on to add seven more sister cities.

Which 1881 San Jose landmark was the subject of a mock trial over whether Paris copied it?

A 1989 "Court of Historical Inquiry" ruled that the Eiffel Tower did not infringe on it.

Which waterway runs north through San Jose from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the bay at Alviso?

It still hosts steelhead and Chinook salmon, making San Jose the southernmost major US city with salmon runs.

Which architect designed San Jose's new City Hall, opened in 2005?

Downtown buildings are height-limited because they lie in the flight path of the airport.

San Jose is the largest US city not served by which kind of highway?

Most of the Interstate system was planned in the early 1950s, long before San Jose's boom, so it only has three-digit spur Interstates.

What military nickname was given to the staff of 1950s-60s city manager A. P. Hamann?

Hamann's team annexed property 1,389 times, growing San Jose from 17 to 149 square miles during his 1950-1969 tenure.