Early Promotion Societies Flourished
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Gilroy’s Chamber of
Commerce charter, but roots for the organization actually began 101
years ago with the founding of the first local Board of Trade.
The movement was spurred by a statewide interest in fostering
economic growth via increased population and expanded regional
resources. To this end, in August 1902, a special train excursion
of San Francisco businessmen and Knights of Pythias, under the
auspices of the California Promotion Committee, took a train ride
down the coast from San Francisco. Meeting with a hearty reception
from eager citizens at various stops, the visitors’ itinerary
stretched from San Mateo to Santa Barbara with return stops at
Salinas and Watsonville.
Early Promotion Societies Flourished
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Gilroy’s Chamber of Commerce charter, but roots for the organization actually began 101 years ago with the founding of the first local Board of Trade.
The movement was spurred by a statewide interest in fostering economic growth via increased population and expanded regional resources. To this end, in August 1902, a special train excursion of San Francisco businessmen and Knights of Pythias, under the auspices of the California Promotion Committee, took a train ride down the coast from San Francisco. Meeting with a hearty reception from eager citizens at various stops, the visitors’ itinerary stretched from San Mateo to Santa Barbara with return stops at Salinas and Watsonville.
For locals, the last leg of the journey was to be the most exciting, because it included brief pauses at San Juan Bautista and Hollister, wrapping up with a jaunt through Gilroy. In each town they visited, the Bay Area excursionists were guests of local boards of trade, in some cases known as improvement clubs.
Gilroy, unfortunately, didn’t have such an organization in 1902, but when he heard of the group’s tour plans, Mayor Chesbro was quick to wire the San Francisco headquarters that about 60 visitors would be welcomed on a half-hour drive about town. The city’s three liverymen, Messrs. Rice, Fitzgerald and Mayock, were pressed into service and consented to offer their rigs for the visit.
The special train reached Betabel by late morning. There, carriages from the San Juan Bautista Improvement Club met them for a tour, followed by a reception at the old mission, then a ride to see the local apple and pear orchards enroute to Hollister. A stop at the C.C. Morse Seed Farm at Carnadero rounded out the San Benito stay, with the visitors scheduled to take the whirlwind Gilroy tour around mid-afternoon before re-boarding the northbound train.
In Gilroy, the visit spurred action to form a trade board. After all, residents wondered, if the rest of the state was growing, why not cash in locally as well? The railroad, strong in promoting out-of-state residents to come see California, had already published a 60-day “colonist rate,” offering discount train travel for would-be settlers to Southern California. Nearly 10,000 people had taken up the offer.
The California Promotion Committee of San Francisco published and posted information on all available bulletin boards and tourist offices in large cities in the East. Representatives traveled East to give lectures illustrated by scenic California stereopticon views. Hopefully, viewers would be enticed to make California their new home.
On April 29, 1903, Mr. Pladwell, of the passenger department of the Southern Pacific Railroad, came to Gilroy. Meeting with a large group of eager businessmen, he offered to organize a board of representative men to communicate directly with advertising and colonizing agencies.
Citing the recent Southern California growth surge spurred by the special train excursion fares, he said population was also increasing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. It stood to reason that Gilroy, and its fertile valley, should be promoted as well.
Our local dilemma, most citizens agreed, was that large parcels of surrounding land were held by only a few owners who were reluctant to carve up their large holdings into smaller lots. A committee, consisting of L. A. Whitehurst, George Dunlap, E.D. Crawford and F.W. Blake, was appointed to contact these landowners and persuade them to be generous in joining the movement for populating the valley.
Progress was swift and two weeks later, a petition was circulated to establish either a local Board of Trade or a Promotion Club, such as other towns already had. At a meeting in Judge Willey’s office, Mr. Pladwell returned to check progress. A board could send two delegates to the Central California Coast County’s Improvement Association convention in San Luis Obispo.
“Can we refuse to cooperate with the energetic men whose aim is to enrich and people the state?” asked an editorial in the May 16, 1903 Gilroy Advocate.
By the end of the month, a Board of Trade was organized with 40 members. F.W. Blake, publisher of the Advocate, was elected Chairman, and J.W. Milnes the Secretary. The formation of Gilroy’s board brought to 150 the total of similar state organizations. Officials from the Southern Pacific, including Mr. Pladwell, gave stirring addresses.
“Gilroy, too, can see her fertile land peopled and local industry contribute to the wealth of the town,” they boasted.
At the same meeting Mayor Chesbro spoke sharply on the absence of certain prominent landowners, their lack of response, and their apparent indifference to the growth movement.
“We must advance or recede,” the Advocate editor warned, in the May 23, 1903 edition.
Board of Trade bylaws were adopted, dues were assessed of $1 per month, and meetings were set for the first Thursday of the month. Delegates selected to go to the San Luis Obispo convention were F.W. Blake and J.W. Thayer. Mayor Chesbro was elected one of five trustees.
But as sometimes occurs in fledgling organizations, initial excitement soon waned. By August of that year, board business was becoming stagnant, with no delegates yet chosen to attend a District meeting the following week at Mayfield.
“We have given the town and its people a flattering representation,” the Advocate editor warned. ” We trust the inaction of our Board of Trade will not lead our neighbors to lose confidence in our words.”
