Editing Watsonville, California (section)

==History==
[[File:Juan-Castro-Adobe (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|The [[Castro Adobe]], built by Juan José Castro on [[Rancho San Andrés]], is the oldest building in Watsonville.]]
Watsonville's land was first inhabited by an [[Ohlone]] nation of [[Indigenous Californians]]. This tribe settled along the [[Pajaro Dunes]] since the land was fertile and useful for the cultivation of their plants and animals.

===Spanish era===
In 1769, the [[Portolá expedition]], the first Europeans to explore the area, arrived from the south, where soldiers described a big bird they saw near a large river. The story survived in the river's name, ''Rio del Pajaro'' (River of the Bird).

The Portolá expedition continued north through the area, camping at one of the lakes north of town for five nights, on October 10–14, 1769. Many of the expedition's soldiers had [[scurvy]], so progress was slow. While the sick recuperated, scouts led by [[José Francisco Ortega|Sergeant Ortega]] looked for the best way forward. On the fifth day, [[Franciscans|Franciscan]] missionary [[Juan Crespi]], traveling with the expedition, wrote in his diary, "This afternoon the explorers returned. The sergeant reported that he had gone ahead twelve leagues without getting any information of the harbor that we are looking for, and that he went to the foot of a high, white mountain range."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=208–209 |year=1927 |title=Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1774 |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000288788 |publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library |access-date=April 1, 2014}}</ref>

During the October March 10, the explorers first saw the [[Coast redwood]] tree (Spanish: ''palo colorado''). A bronze plaque at Pinto Lake (now a city park) commemorates the event.<ref>{{cite book |last=Koch |first=Margaret |pages=11 |year=1973 |title=Santa Cruz County: Parade of the Past |isbn=9780913548165 |location=Fresno, CA |publisher=Valley Press }}</ref> On October 15, the expedition continued to the northwest past today's community of [[Freedom, California|Freedom]], camping that night at Corralitos Lagoon.

The area became part of the Spanish colonial province of [[The Californias|Las Californias]], and in 1804 the northern part was split off to form [[Alta California]]. The area's pasture lands were assigned to the [[Spanish missions in California|Spanish mission]] to the south, in Carmel.

===Mexican era===
[[File:USA-Watsonville-City Plaza-Field Artillery Cannon-1.jpg|thumb|left|The cannon in Watsonville Plaza was fired in 1850 to celebrate [[An Act for the Admission of the State of California|California's admission as a state]].]]
When Mexico gained independence, it took possession of ''Alta California''. The Spanish missions were secularized in the 1830s, and the future Watsonville area became [[Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro]], a land grant made to Sebastian Rodríguez in 1837. Under Mexico's more liberal land-ownership laws, immigration to the area from Europe and the U.S. increased.

In 1833, Governor [[José Figueroa]] granted [[Rancho San Andrés]] to José Joaquín Castro, who came to California as part of the [[Anza Expedition|1776 Anza Expedition]] and later became patriarch of a locally prominent [[Californio]] family. His son, Juan José Castro, built the [[Castro Adobe]], the only two-story hacienda in the area at the time. Today, the adobe is owned by [[California State Parks]] and is undergoing restoration to serve as the Rancho San Andrés Castro Adobe State Historic Park.<ref>[https://www.goodtimes.sc/the-rebirth-of-rancho-san-andres-castro-adobe/ Good Times - The Rebirth of Rancho San Andrés Castro Adobe]</ref>

===Post-Conquest era===
Following the American [[Conquest of California]] and the ratification of the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] in 1848, the region began to receive large waves of migrants, mainly Americans from the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] and Europeans.

John H. Watson and D. S. Gregory laid out the town in 1852. The community was incorporated as the Town of Watsonville on or about March 30, 1868, named after Watson. It became the City of Watsonville about 1889. Voters adopted a charter in 1903.<ref name="Watsonville History">{{cite web|last1=Overmeyer|first1=Kurt|title=Watsonville Growing Opportunities|url=http://growinwatsonville.com/why-watsonville/history-watsonville|website=growinwatsonville.com|access-date=February 11, 2015|archive-date=August 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816202759/http://growinwatsonville.com/why-watsonville/history-watsonville|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Lettenich Building.JPG|thumb|right|The Lettenich Building, built in 1914 by Bay Area architect [[W. H. Weeks]]]]

===Modern era===
{{see also|Watsonville riots|1985–1987 Watsonville Cannery strike}}
From 1904 to 1913, the [[Watsonville Traction Company|Watsonville Railway and Navigation Company]] operated an interurban railway to Port Watsonville on Monterey Bay, where it connected with an overnight produce [[packet boat]] to San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fabing |first=H.W. |year=1966 |title=Watsonville Transportation Company |journal=The Western Railroader |volume=29 |issue=322 |pages=1–15 }}</ref>

The [[Watsonville riots]] was a [[List of ethnic riots|race riot]] that occurred in January 1930.<ref name=jstor41170831 >{{cite journal |last1=De Witt |first1=Howard A. |date=Fall 1979 |title=The Watsonville Anti-Filipino Riot of 1930: A Case Study of the Great Depression and Ethnic Conflict in California |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41170831 |journal=Southern California Quarterly |volume=611 |issue=3 |pages=291–302 |doi=10.2307/41170831
 |jstor=41170831 |access-date=September 22, 2023 }}</ref> The riots were preceded by efforts of a local [[justice of the peace]], D.W. Rohrback{{efn|Some sources spell the judge's last name Rohrback, others spell it Rohrbach.}} to stoke anti-Filipino sentiments.<ref name=jstor41170831 /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Evangelista |first1=Susan |date=First Quarter 1983 |title=California's Third Oriental Wave: A Sociohistorical Analysis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42632649 |journal=Philippine Studies |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=37–57 |doi= 10.13185/2244-1638.1589|jstor=42632649 |access-date=September 22, 2023 }}<br/>{{cite thesis |last=Gutierrez Esguerra |first=Maria Paz |date=2013 |title=Interracial Romances of American Empire: Migration, Marriage, and Law in Twentieth Century California |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/102301/esguerra_1.pdf?sequence=1 |type=Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy (History) |chapter= |publisher=University of Michigan |docket= |oclc= |access-date=September 22, 2023 }}<br/>{{cite book |last=McKibben |first=Carol Lynn |author-link= |date=2022 |title=Salinas: A History of Race and Resilience in an Agricultural City |url=https://salinaspubliclibrary.org/sites/default/files/media_browser/external_documents/chapter_three_struggle_final.pdf |location=California |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=49 |isbn=9781503629929 |via=Salinas Public Library}}</ref> [[Filipino American]] farmworkers, then-[[U.S. nationals]], were attacked by [[Non-Hispanic whites|White Americans]], including the killing of [[Fermin Tobera]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Showalter |first1=Michael P. |date=Winter 1989 |title=The Watsonville Anti-Filipino Riot of 1930: A Reconsideration of Fermin Tobera's Murder |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41171455 |journal=Southern California Quarterly |volume=71 |issue=41 |pages=341–348 |doi=10.2307/41171455 |jstor=41171455 |access-date=September 22, 2023 }}</ref> In May 2023, the [[Monterey County Board of Supervisors]] issued an apology for the riot in form of a resolution during [[Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Copitch |first=Josh |date=May 10, 2023 |title=Anti-Filipino riots broke out in a California town nearly a century ago. Now, county leaders are apologizing |url=https://www.wdsu.com/article/anti-filipino-riots-california-county-leaders-apologizing/43857281# |work=WDSU |location=New Orleans |access-date=September 26, 2023}}</ref>

The Maggie Sue Earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5, a shallow depth of 7 kilometers, and an epicenter of approximately 3 kilometers West of Moss Landing struck on September 29, 2024 at 2:47 AM local time.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Yablonski |title=Magnitude 4.2 earthquake rattles California south of San Francisco |url=https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/california-earthquake-san-jose-san-francisco-aromas-september-2024 |access-date=29 September 2024 |agency=Fox Weather |publisher=Fox Weather |date=29 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="earthquake.usgs.gov">{{cite web |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/at00skkj77/executive |website=USGS |access-date=29 September 2024}}</ref> The Maggie Sue Earthquake had a high intensity rating <ref>{{cite web |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75068161/shakemap/intensity |website=USGS ShakeMap |publisher=USGS |access-date=29 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/quake-info/9630089/quake-felt-Sep-29-2024-Near-San-Francisco-Kalifornien-USA.html |website=Volcano Discovery |access-date=29 September 2024 |title=Moderate mag. 4.1 earthquake - 16 mi north of Salinas, Monterey County, California, United States, on Sunday, Sep 29, 2024, at 02:47 am (Los Angeles time) }}</ref> with impacts especially strong throughout the [[Moss Landing, California|Moss Landing]], [[Aromas, California|Aromas]], and Watsonville areas, with intense shaking felt throughout [[Santa Cruz County, California|Santa Cruz]] and [[Monterey County, California|Monterey]] Counties as far south as [[Salinas, California|Salinas]] and [[Monterey, California|Monterey]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75068161/executive |website=United States Geological Survey }}</ref><ref name="earthquake.usgs.gov"/>

Watonsville's present [[city charter]] was adopted on February 16, 1960.<ref name=charter/>

In 1985, [[1985–1987 Watsonville Cannery strike|cannery workers in Watsonville went on strike]] for 18 months to protest a decrease in their wages and benefits. In the end, they won a new contract. The movement was led by primarily Latina women, and was noted as a historic labor rights win for the Mexicano/Chicano community.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last=Tal|date=1987|title=Victory at Watsonville|journal=Off Our Backs|volume=17|issue=5|pages=19|jstor=25795722}}</ref>