Rea arrived during Gilroy’s dawning days
Thomas Rea, the family’s first pioneer member, arrived in the
Gilroy area in 1853, years before the town existed. But it was not
his first trip to California. Along with hordes of other 49ers, he
headed West, arriving in San Francisco early in 1850. For the next
two years, he worked in the Sierra gold fields. Then, he returned
to Illinois via the Isthmus of Panama and on April 11, 1853,
married Mary Ann Jones.
Rea arrived during Gilroy’s dawning days
Thomas Rea, the family’s first pioneer member, arrived in the Gilroy area in 1853, years before the town existed. But it was not his first trip to California. Along with hordes of other 49ers, he headed West, arriving in San Francisco early in 1850. For the next two years, he worked in the Sierra gold fields. Then, he returned to Illinois via the Isthmus of Panama and on April 11, 1853, married Mary Ann Jones.
The day following their wedding, the couple set out on an ox-team emigrant train for the West. The band of travelers included 15 men, plus Mary Ann. When the newlyweds arrived in Gilroy, the settlement had three residences, a tiny schoolhouse, a hotel with a post office drop, and a store.
The Reas settled west of town on the Solis Rancho, where Thomas soon established farm. In 1857, he purchased 160 acres of the Las Animas Rancho, property which he expanded to nearly 1000 acres, all in dairy. In December 1868, the Gilroy Advocate noted that his ranch “produced excellent butter.”
As the rail line was being completed south from San Jose in 1869, Rea joined a celebration committee to welcome the arrival of the first passenger cars to the new Gilroy Depot. He planned a barbecue, and invited the dignitaries to the event, including Santa Clara County officers, the city councils of San Jose and San Francisco, and the area’s press organizations to cover the momentous event.
By the early 1870s, Gilroy was the cheese making capital of the state. Thomas put his son James in charge of the family dairy, moved into town, and occupied an imposing residence on the corner of Sixth and Alexander Sts. He entered the first of many years of civic service, beginning with the city council from 1872-76, the California State Assembly 1873-4. He was elected Gilroy mayor, serving from 1886-88.
He was still active in public affairs when an 1897 item in the local newspaper reported a Board of Health complaint at a City Council meeting. Lodged by Thomas Rea and others, it addressed “the odors and other ill-effects of water running in the gutters along South Monterey St.” Action was a long time in coming. A year later, another report noted, “…the present existing condition of the gutters along Monterey St. from Sixth to the slough is a public nuisance and a menace to the health and well-being of that part of the community.” By then, the city marshal was also ordered to enforce the ordinance against keeping swine within the city limits.
Thomas and Mary Ann Rea had two sons and five daughters plus an adopted daughter. Their twin daughter, Clara, married William Jacob Hanna. The Hanna children were Samuel, Thomas Rea and Walter Jacob Hanna, born in Texas. Clara’s sister, Carrie Rea, never married but her name appeared frequently in the social pages. A 1902 item noted that she was an avid card player, and had been the first to introduce a new “fad game,” bridge whist, to Gilroy. Other Rea children married into the pioneer Pyle, Strange, and Loupe families.
Thomas and Mary Ann’s seventh child, George Elmer Rea, went into the mercantile business in Gilroy and like his forbears engaged in a successful dairying operation. He married Mary Lee Tully, daughter of Congressman P.B. Tully. In early years he went into the mercantile business, later joined in partnership with George Dunlap to operate the 20,000-acre Coyote Cattle Co., operated a meat market in Gilroy and in 1902 was an incorporator of the South Santa Clara Fruit Drying Co. Keeping with family tradition, George served on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors from 1895-1907. In January 1899, according to a news report, papers were filed by opponent E.J. Crandall against him “for a recount to determine whether or not the supervisor’s seat for the first district is legitimate. Irregularities were cited in balloting procedures.” After his father’s 1907 death, George became president of the Thomas Rea Real Estate Company until the company disbanded 12 years later.
Among the Rea family’s real estate developments in town was the Rea Building, which stood at the corner of Monterey and Fifth Streets. In 1898 the upstairs portion of the building became the first Gilroy Private Hospital under its founder, Dr. Jonas Clark.
Pioneer Thomas Rea’s younger brother, Samuel, had also come to California from Ohio, arriving in 1852. He worked for several years at the mines in Downieville before moving to Santa Clara County in 1859. Besides raising stock and operating dairy and cheese making business with brother Thomas, he also bred fine-blooded horses. Like Thomas, Samuel also ran for public office, becoming County Supervisor of the First District, from 1876-79. An 1881 Santa Clara History noted, “Mr. Rea owes his success in life entirely to his own unaided efforts and is now one of the thrifty farmers of the Gilroy township, that locality of truly excellent agriculturalists.” He lived on his ranch south of town until 1899 when he moved to San Jose.
The end of an era came in 1936, when the Rea building, a prominent landmark at Fifth and Monterey Sts., was torn down. Besides housing the former Gilroy Private Hospital in the upper story, the building’s downstairs had held the Henry Hecker Co., later the Roth-Winans store. During the demolition, wreckers found an old brass and cast iron gas “candlestick” in the walls, and a roll of real 24 inch wide Irish linen left from the store’s mercantile days. The structure had been built with 300,000 bricks and fine redwood from the Hanna mill at Mt. Madonna.
One has to wonder what the wrecking crew did with an old photo they discovered, on Sept. 10, 1936. Found lodged between wall partitions, it depicted the original arcade-like Rea building facade, with people standing out front, and a horse and buggy hitched up at the boardwalk curb.
