Mary Rey's San Jose: 1885

  

Mary Reymunda Luera Maltos de Garcia
tintype circa 1880 

Mary Rey was a young woman in her twenties, married only a few years when her husband Urbano got into trouble.  Mary Rey Luera grew up in the Spanish Town section of the mining village of New Almaden, living with her mama Senona and her miner stepfather Jose Maria Maltos.  

The shooting incident that landed Urbano in trouble happened in the street in New Almaden.   The courthouse of Santa Clara was a dozen miles away in what might have seemed to Mary Rey a big, booming metropolis of 9,000 people.

View of San Jose Courthouse 1868

Completed in 1868, this courthouse was the first building actually designed for the county as a courthouse. Residents could climb into the dome to reach the observation deck at the top. The G. Malatesta boarding House "Italia" is in the foreground.  Source: San Jose Public Library 

To attend the trial Mary Rey would journey 12 miles to down town San Jose, to the courthouse.  The trip would take a couple of hours.  At the time of Urbano’s trial the imposing courthouse dominated the landscape. The edifice wouldn't be complete until a year after Urbano's trial. No doubt, the noise of its construction spilled into the surrounding streets. 

Cart on the road near Brokaw  c1883

Planting trees on the Alameda between Santa Clara and the pueblo of San Jose, was a tradition that Father Maguin de Catala began with local Indians in the late 18th century.
 California Images - San Jose

Some of main avenues into New Almaden were lined with trees planted by the Catholic padres. As traffic increased, the streets were widened, and the trees were lost. 

Interior of produce store, San Jose c1890

Locally grown produce were readily available in stores throughout the valley, offering a bountiful crop of olive oil, canned goods, dried fruit and general goods. 

Source: San Jose Public Library

Shopping looked like this, no doubt offering many more options than the company store in Almaden. Did Mary Rey have the money or time to shop? Likely at this critical moment the family funds were dedicated to lawyer's fees. 

First and Santa Clara, Downtown San Jose 1885

Looking southward through San Jose's financial district is the Bank of San Jose (with its four-way tower clock), the Commercial and Savings Bank (left), First national Bank. (far right corner), and the Knox Block, dating back to 1865, (near right corner).  Source: San Jose Public Library

Traffic in San Jose looked like this. Crossing the street in March must have been a muddy affair wreaking hell on hemlines in the wet season. Dust must have been everywhere in the dry season.