Editing Gilroy, California (section)

== History ==
===Spanish era===
Spanish explorers led by [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] first passed through the [[Santa Clara Valley]] area in 1776. More than 20 years later, Spanish missionaries established [[Mission San Juan Bautista]] in 1797 near the [[Pajaro River]]. In 1809, [[José Francisco Ortega#Family|Ygnacio Ortega]] was granted the {{convert|13066|acre|ha|adj=on}} Spanish land concession [[Rancho San Ysidro]].

The village of San Ysidro developed nearby, at the foot of [[Pacheco Pass]] which linked the [[El Camino Real (California)|El Camino Real]] and the [[Santa Clara Valley]] with the [[San Joaquin Valley]]. California's main exports at this time were [[California hide trade|hides]] and [[tallow]], of which thousands of barrels were produced and shipped to the rest of [[New Spain]]. Trade and diplomatic intercourse with foreigners was strictly forbidden by the royal government but was quietly carried on by Californians desperate for luxury goods.

===Mexican era===
During the [[War of 1812]], the armed [[Merchant ship|merchantman]] ''Isaac Todd''<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Isaac Todd |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/isaac-todd |access-date=February 23, 2014 |archive-date=August 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803113715/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/isaac-todd/ |url-status=live }}</ref> was sent by the [[North West Company]] to seize [[Fort Astoria]], an American trading post at the mouth of the [[Columbia River]]. The ship, with a Royal Navy escort, departed from [[Portsmouth, England]], made its way around [[Cape Horn]] and proceeded up the Pacific coast of the Americas, stopping at Spanish ports for supplies along the way.

In January 1814, having fallen behind its escort, the ''Isaac Todd'' arrived at [[Monterey, California]], the Spanish colonial capital of [[Alta California]]. During the visit, ordinary seaman John Gilroy (a [[Scotland|Scotsman]] who had changed his name from John Cameron when he went to sea to avoid recognition) either (depending on the historical source) jumped ship<ref>{{cite web |title=Historical plaque |publisher=E Clampus Vitus Chapter 1850 |url=http://www.mountaincharlie1850.org/pl_gilroy_john.html |access-date=January 14, 2007}}</ref> or was left ashore to recover from [[scurvy]].<ref>{{cite web |title=San Francisco History - The Beginning |publisher=San Francisco Genealogy |url=http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hbbeg12.htm |access-date=January 14, 2007}}</ref>

John Gilroy (1794–1869), also known as Juan Bautista Gilroy,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;Institution=UC+Berkeley::Bancroft+Library;titlesAZ=J;idT=UCb112229852|title=John Gilroy papers, 1846-1853.|website=oac.cdlib.org}}</ref> spent the next few years moving around among the [[Spanish missions of California|missions]], pueblos and ranchos, plying his trade as a cooper (barrel maker). At first, by his own account in an 1856 letter to [[Thomas O. Larkin]], Gilroy was one of only two English-speakers resident in Alta California.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Everett Thomas Oliver Larkin |author2=Gordon Hager |author3=Anna Marie Hager |date=1951 |title=The Larkin Papers |location=Berkeley, California |publisher=University of California Press |pages=286–87 }}</ref> Eventually, he found his way to [[Rancho San Ysidro]], converted to [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] and became the first naturalized English-speaking settler in Alta California. In 1821, the same year [[Mexico]] won its independence from Spain, Gilroy married a daughter of his employer, ranchero Ygnacio Ortega. Upon Ygnacio's death in 1833, the rancho was divided among his three children—including Gilroy's wife Maria Clara. In 1867, under U.S. property law, the Rancho San Ysidro (Gilroy) was patented to John Gilroy.

The settlement now known as "Old Gilroy" grew up around Gilroy's rancho complex and, after the end of the [[Mexican–American War]] in 1848, Gilroy served as [[alcalde]] of the village.<ref>{{cite web |title=South County towns' names rich in history |publisher=Gilroy Dispatch |url=http://www.gilroydispatch.com/printer/article.asp?c=4764 |access-date=January 14, 2007}}</ref> It served as a [[stagecoach]] station of the [[Butterfield Overland Mail]] and other stage lines in the late 19th century.

===American era===
[[File:USA-Gilroy-Wheeler Hospital-1.jpg|thumb|Wheeler Hospital, built 1929 in a [[Mission Revival]] style]]

Following the U.S. [[Conquest of California]] and the [[California Gold Rush|discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada]] in 1848, the trickle of immigrants from the eastern states and abroad became a flood. As many of the earlier Mexican and [[Californio]] landowners sold off their land, lost it to squatters, or were dispossessed through title hearings, the area around San Ysidro became known as Pleasant Valley. On March 12, 1870, it was officially [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] by the state legislature as the town of Gilroy (John Gilroy had died in 1869).<ref>{{cite web | title=A trip to the gold mines of California in 1848 | publisher=California, First Person Narratives | url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/calbk:@field(DOCID+@lit(calbk087div4))#N1-6 | access-date=January 14, 2007}}</ref> By then the town center had been relocated west of the El Camino Real (Old Gilroy is today a sparsely populated agricultural area).

Cattle ranching and timber from the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains were important to the economy for some time but, as in the rest of the valley, agriculture was the town's greatest source of income. During the 1920s, Kiyoshi "Jimmy" Hirasaki began growing garlic commercially in the Gilroy area.<ref name=cheek>{{citation |last=Cheek |first=Martin |title=The original Garlic King | newspaper=[[Gilroy Dispatch]] |date=July 25, 2005 |url=https://gilroydispatch.com/the-original-garlic-king/}}</ref> Referred to as the "Garlic King", Hirasaki continued to farm garlic into the 1950s.<ref name=niiya>{{cite web |first = Niiya | last = Brian | url = https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Kiyoshi_Hirasaki | title = Kiyoshi Hirasaki | publisher = Densho | access-date = November 22, 2022}}</ref><ref name=cheek/>  In 1979, the [[Gilroy Garlic Festival]] was launched. Farming remains significant, but in the 1970s the city began evolving into a bedroom community for [[Silicon Valley]] to the north.

There are a number of extant historical buildings dating from the mid-19th century. Built in 1857, the Christian Church at 160 Fifth Street is the oldest wood-framed church in continuous use in Santa Clara County. [[Blacksmith]] George Eustice's house at 213 Fifth Street was constructed in 1869; Eustice was an [[American Civil War]] veteran who fought at [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Staff|first=Gilroy Dispatch|date=April 3, 2015|title=Lessons of Civil War still speak to all of us|url=https://gilroydispatch.com/lessons-of-civil-war-still-speak-to-all-of-us/|access-date=January 17, 2021|website=Gilroy Dispatch|language=en-US}}</ref>  Samuel Moore was a long-time Gilroy [[postmaster]], whose home was built in the 1870s at 7151 Church Street.<ref>''Santa Clara County Heritage Resource Inventory'', Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission, published by Santa Clara County, San Jose, Ca., June 1979</ref>

Nearby in the foothills of the Diablo Range to the northeast is the historic resort site [[Gilroy Yamato Hot Springs]], first developed in the 1870s (and now closed to the public).<ref name="CHL">{{cite web|title=California Historical Landmark: Santa Clara County|url=http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21522|work=Office of Historic Preservation|publisher=California State Parks}}</ref> In 1905, the [[Old City Hall (Gilroy, California)|Old City Hall]] was built in downtown Gilroy; in 1975, it was designated on the list of [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Aver|first=William E.|date=1975|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form, Old City Hall|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/75000480|access-date=January 7, 2020|website=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior}}</ref>

===2019 Festival shooting===
{{see also|Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting}}
On July 28, 2019, a [[Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting|mass shooting]] occurred at the 2019 [[Gilroy Garlic Festival]]. Three people were killed by the gunman and at least 12 others were injured. The suspect, Santino William Legan, committed suicide after being shot by police.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/28/us/gilroy-garlic-festival-shooting/index.html|title=At least 3 dead, 11 injured in shooting at Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California|author=Hollie Silverman and Amir Vera|website=CNN|date=July 29, 2019|access-date=July 29, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/active-shooter-incident-garlic-festival-california/story?id=64624542|title=19-year-old suspect identified in deadly shooting at Gilroy Garlic Festival|website=ABC News|language=en|access-date=July 29, 2019}}</ref>