Meet Stephen Payne
Local Historian
Stephen Payne holds a doctorate in Public Historical Studies from UC Santa Barbara, a master’s degree in History from San Jose State University, and a baccalaureate in Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz. Stephen has also taught Santa Clara County and California history courses at local colleges for many years. Stephen’s family goes back five generations in Santa Clara County. The McClellan farm buildings in Steven’s Creek Park belonged to his great, great grandparents, who were settlers in 1849. In 1852 his great grandfather arrived in the valley, settling in Los Gatos. In the mid-1870s, the family purchased a farm near Campbell, where Payne Avenue is today.
Meet Mark Vande Pol
Winter History Speaker
Mark Vande Pol is a fourth generation Californian, born in 1954 at Kaiser Hospital, Oakland. He grew up in several cities in the Bay Area: Richmond, Walnut Creek, El Cerrito, San Francisco, and Lafayette. Both parents were members of the Sierra Club taking him car-camping all through early childhood. “Home” at that time were Calaveras Big Trees and skipping rocks on the Stanislaus River, both including drives through the flower fields of the Central Valley. During high school in San Francisco, many weekends were spent hitchhiking to Point Reyes National Seashore. Summers included multi-week solo backpacking trips in Yosemite. After clawing back into academic life via the junior college system in Oakland, Mark graduated from Harvey Mudd College in 1985.
The Loma Prieta Museum fondly remembers Bill Radonich and all of his outstanding contributions to the Santa Cruz Mountain community. “Bill” Radonich, affectionately known as “Buzzard” or “The Old Buzzard” passed away on January 27th, 2025 in Santa Clara, CA. He was 96 years old. Born in San Jose, CA, Buzzard was the son of Billy and Katy Radonich. He grew up on the family farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains. At 10 years old, he was already helping around the farm, driving the tractor with the spray rig while his brothers sprayed. At 14 he drove the entire student body of Burrell School to Santa Cruz on the family’s truck. At 16 he would deliver and unload 6 tons of apples in San Francisco after school. Buzzard was the valedictorian of his Burrell School 8th grade class of 3, a fact he often repeated to his grandchildren with pride. In high school, he was an All-American shortstop in baseball, started at both running back and linebacker in football, and was rumored to be an air-raid warden.
What's in a Name
By Debra Staab
The meaning of many place names is often self-explanatory such as Los Gatos Creek (a creek near Los Gatos), Scotts Valley (a valley founded by Scott), and the Summit (at the crest of the mountain). Other names are much more generic (Highland) and some are even misleading (Hooker Gulch). How many of these historical names do you know the origins of? Alma Alma was a community located one mile south of Lexington that sprang up in the 1860s. The town had a luxury hotel called The Forest House, a stage coach stop, several saw mills, a few saloons, and a store. The Alma School was built there by Louis Hebard, and the first postmaster was Lysander Collins who ran the Forest House.
The Infamous Stagecoach Robber AP Hamilton
By Debra Staab
Santa Cruz Mountain residents fight an ongoing battle against porch pirates and mail theft. I’ve even heard of thieves who yanked out entire banks of mailboxes with a truck and a chain to pilfer cash and checks that can be forged. But, challenges to mail and package delivery in our area are not new. Between the 1850s and 1880s, during the stagecoach era, drivers, locals, and travelers alike were often accosted by robbers as they journeyed between San Jose, Los Gatos, and Santa Cruz. Besides passengers, stages frequently carried the U.S. Mail, locked steel bank boxes, and even gold. Wells Fargo Bank ran their own fleet of coaches. The vehicles ranged in comfort from a basic mud wagon to the more luxurious Concord coach which had padded seats and room for luggage on its roof.
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