Santa Clara County, California

Santa Clara County Education, Geography, and History

Santa Clara County, California, officially the County of Santa Clara, is a county located in the state of California. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose, the tenth-most populous city. The county was created February 18, 1850. The county is named after Mission Santa Clara, which is named for Saint Clara of Assisi, Italy.

Santa Clara County is included in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.

Etymology - Origin of Santa Clara County Name

The county is named after Mission Santa Clara, which was established in 1777, and named for Saint Clara of Assisi, Italy. The name Clara means "clear" or "bright."

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Santa Clara County History

Santa Clara County was one of the original counties of California, formed in 1850 at the time of statehood. The original inhabitants included the Ohlone, residing on Coyote Creek and Calaveras Creek. Part of the county's territory was given to Alameda County in 1853.

The county is named after Mission Santa Clara, which was established in 1777, and named for Saint Clare of Assisi, Italy.

Known at one time as the "Valley of Heart's Delight," Santa Clara Valley once burst with abundant agricultural riches. Before the cultivation of this beautiful valley, the land itself provided richly for its original Native American inhabitants, the Ohlone.

The Ohlone lived in villages scattered throughout the Santa Clara Valley and lived peacefully for more than 1,000 years before the arrival of Spanish Explorers in the late 1700's. Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra discovered the region while looking for Monterey Bay in November, 1769. Life in the area changed dramatically with the arrival of the Spanish and in 1777 the Valley's first mission and pueblo, Mission Santa Clara de Asis was established along the banks of the Guadalupe Creek.

After nearly a half-century of Spanish rule, the Mexican Revolution in 1821 brought an era of Mexican leadership. "Manifest Destiny" and the lure of gold brought American explorers, and in 1850 California was admitted to the Union. The County of Santa Clara was one of the original 28 counties of California and San Jose became, for a short time, the capital of the nation's 31st state. The Valley's fertile soil provided perfect conditions for agriculture. In the 1850's grain crops flourished, followed by orchards of prunes, apricots, peaches and pears. Acres of prized vineyards covered the Valley. Fruit processing developed into a major local industry and remained vital to the economy throughout the 1940's and 1950's.

The Bay Area has always attracted its share of new waves of people--Dust Bowl migrants of the 1930's, postwar veterans who received their discharge papers in California and chose to stay, immigrates  fleeing war or hardship in their native lands, cultured traders, business entrepreneurs, technical experts, and many more. Gradually, ideas came to be the area's lifeblood, as aerospace and electronics manufacturing replaces orchards and packing plants. Universities and businesses grew. Today, the County of Santa Clara is known as "Silicon Valley," the birthplace of the high technology revolution.

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,304 square miles (3,377 km²), of which, 1,291 square miles (3,343 km²) of it is land and 13 square miles (34 km²) of it (1.02%) is water.

The San Andreas Fault runs along the Santa Cruz Mountains in the southern part of the county. Santa Clara is located in the center of Silicon Valley

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Northeast: San Joaquin County; Stanislaus County
• East: Merced County
• Southeast: San Benito County
• Southwest: Santa Cruz County

Education

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