Agriculture in Gilroy

During the Gold Rush of 1849, many people found wealth instead in California farmland, and among the early farmers in and around Gilroy were Massey Thomas and Samuel and Electra Ousley. Massey Thomas and his family settled in southwest Gilroy in 1853, bringing 300 head of cattle, and in 1854 Samuel and Electra Ousley claimed acreage in the area that later became Hecker Pass Road. After Samuel died, Electra fought to own the land in her own name. In the mid 1800’s, Henry Miller, known as “The Cattle King,” chose Gilroy to expand his empire, and the remains of his Gilroy headquarters on the Bloomfield ranch are three concrete silos visible from Hwy 101 south of town, while ruins of his summer home remain at Mt. Madonna County Park. Hay has been an important crop from the 1850s to the present, and dairying began in the 1850s; by 1896 Gilroy produced over a million pounds of cheese per year, and Live Oak Creamery, built in 1908, produced 1/5 of all butter and cheese in California. Seed production became prominent throughout the county after Japanese farmers arrived around 1900, and flower breeder Glenn Goldsmith founded Goldsmith Seeds there in 1962. Gilroy agriculture also included hand-shaken trees, children gathering prunes from the ground in late August and early September, delayed school openings because children were needed for the harvest, apricots cut and laid on pallets to dry in the sun, and Italian families in the 1900’s growing grapes for personal use. Today the region has over 22 commercial wineries producing award-winning wines, and the fertile land in and around Gilroy has made it a capital of many agricultural products over the years, including hay and grain from 1850-1860, tobacco from 1860-1870, fruit and nuts from 1880-1900, prunes from 1910-1940, and garlic from 1980-present.

Gilroy, California · United States