by Susanne Martinez
Have you ever wondered how some of the streets in Old Mountain View were laid out? In the late 1800s, much of the area we know today as Old Mountain View was a mixture of agricultural plots, a scattering of commercial entities, and a handful of residences.
In 1887 a group of citizens living in what was then the Town of Mountain View who owned property on both sides of a “Market Street” running from the downtown railroad depot and El Camino (then called the San Francisco and San Jose Road) petitioned the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to close this Market Street along with portions of Villa, California, and Dana Streets.
They asked that the following streets be opened as public highways: Villa, California, Dana, Live Oak, View, and Hope, with Villa, California, and Dana to be opened only to Live Oak Street. Live Oak appears on some very old maps of the area and is what today is named Bush Street. The Market Street mentioned in their petition no longer exists.
As reported in the San Jose Mercury News (January 4, 1887) these petitioners asserted that closing Market Street and opening of the other streets as public roads would provide “ample room and be equally convenient” as Market Street. It would also, they argued, “enhance the value of their land without inconvenience to the traveling public.”
