If you have traveled 237 between Milpitas and Sunnyvale, you  have probably passed us without seeing us. Most of you have no inkling of the importance that Alviso played in the history of the San Jose area.

Named after Iglasias Alviso, who came from Mexico in the late  1700's, it became a city of importance when it was founded in 1838. In 1848,  Peter Burnett, a businessman and landowner in Alviso was the first Anglo governor of California. This was just prior to California becoming an official state.  For one day Alviso was the State Capitol, then it was moved down the road  to San Jose.

Because Alviso was located at the very southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, it was a gateway for people and products flowing north and  south. Ships drawing 12 feet or less of water could berth at the docks and  offload and load cargo and people. In 1849, the steamboat Sacramento began the daylong journey between San Francisco and Alviso. In the 1890's, the steamer, Alviso, plied the waters. It was, I believe  a cleaner mode of transportation than the stream locomotives that were then  running on the San Francisco & San Jose RR built in 1864, and much more genteel. But then I am a hopeless romantic.

With the building of the railroads, Alviso was no longer as  important to the economy of the region. Trains were a cheaper and faster method  of transporting goods. We faded away into a pastoral anonymity. Ex-governor Burnett had his house torn down and rebuilt in San Jose.

But, as you can see, the Bay has filled in with rushes and cat tails, the docks have long been abandoned, and crumbling walls are all that are left to remind us of what once was a century ago. But some of the grandeur remains. The old yacht reminds us of the hundreds of pleasure boats that once called Alviso their home port. That single crumbling wall was once part of  a cannery that employed hundreds and fed thousands all around the world. Now  a lonely burrowing owl keeps a solitary eye out for passing ghosts, and a jackrabbit freezes as a hawk soars overhead.

But don't kid yourself, Alviso is not dead nor is it crumbling into Nothingness. We have established families and businesses that have steadfastly  refused to give into the passage of time. We have recently seen an infusion of new homes and businesses and even a Extended Stay hotel. The future is looking up; or is it?

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