A native son and daughter. Parents born in Africa. WHY REAL ESTATE PAYS IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY BY F. ORVIS "Young man, invest in real estate-suburban real estate."-ANDREW CARNEGIE. St. James Park. This beautiful semi-tropical Eden is situated in the center of the Garden City-San Jose. shoe in which an industrious spider has built its nest, using the center of the nest to represent San Jose, an old-established pueblo of more than 60,000 people, now the county seat. Let the web running from the nest to the rim of the shoe represent electric, steam, and motor inter-urban car lines. Let the rim of the shoe from heel to heel represent the gentle rolling and fertile foot-hills which surround the valley. Let us add that the distance from the heel to the toe of the shoe is 50 miles, and that the distance from side to side of the shoe is 20 miles. And still Tucker, Photo. further for direction, let us say that the toe of the shoe faces the south and the heel the north. The quotation at the beginning of this article applies to young men. No doubt Mr. Carnegie gave the advice from facts in his own life. No doubt that daily he sees tracts of land, which he could have purchased for a very small sum, sold for fabulous prices. The writer wishes to change the quotation to read-INVEST IN REAL ESTATE, BOTH CITY AND SUBURBAN, ANYWHERE IN THE SANTA CLARA VALLEY-and let it apply to both young and old for the time in which property value increases here is short. The writer, while a young man, scarcely old enough to give advice, has seen values increased 40 per cent in this valley. Values that are permanent-values that in the next five years will increase 25 per cent more. Property values cannot go down-they must of necessity increase. Our land is limited and our population is growing as a mushroom. The time is not far distant when the floor of this valley will be as thickly settled as the residence districts surrounding New York. Tucker, Photo. To give the reader an idea of the growth of the entire area within the horse-shoe, regardless of the growth of San Jose, we will turn to Palo Alto, which forms the right heel of the shoe. Palo Alto, in 1890, was merely a flag station on the Southern Pacific Railroad between San Francisco and San Jose. To-day, Palo Alto is a modern city with 7,000 people enjoying all the advantages of up-to-date electric lines, electric lighting and sewer systems, modern schools, buildings and streets. railroad which in 1890 passed by the station of Palo Alto as a single track line is The enjoyed by its people, while the residence section can boast of many spacious homes both modern and old, but artistic. The growth of these two towns was not caused by any sudden rushtheir growth was occasioned by none other than that which has caused the other twenty odd towns within the horse-shoe to grow proportionately and that-the increased population due to incoming of strangers The Bank of San Jose. One of the oldest and most conservative institutions in California. |