Early town engineer N.E. Beckwith's historic building still stands on E. Main Street.

Los Gatos Weekly-Times file photograph

Best of Picture from the Past

Beckwith and his building were part of local history

By John S. Baggerly

The Beckwith building thumbed its nose at two earthquakes and survived several nearby fires and the Great Depression of the 1930s, when tenants were hard to come by.

Engineer N.E. Beckwith was one of those "solid citizens" who helped outline town boundaries in the 1890s--necessary before the area's incorporation into townhood.

Beckwith later became the town's first engineer. His building, constructed in 1893, carried his name and is located on the north side of E. Main Street between the bridge--now the Highway 17 overpass--and Church Street.

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 rattled the Los Gatos area, caused a deep crack in a mountain road and shook hunks of the heavy rock masonry from Beckwith's façade. During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, there was damage again, but little compared to the total destruction of other downtown buildings.

Today's photograph shows the original entrance to "The Beckwith Inn" at 31 E. Main St., with the door flush with the street. Today the entrance has recessed doors and steps up to 17 apartment units.

Currently, the building houses several street-level businesses: 27 E. Main St., Southern Kitchen Coffee Shop; 29 E. Main St., 2wenty 9ine East Main Street Cafe; 33 E. Main St., A Matter of Taste Gardens Design; and 35 Main St., A Matter of Taste Gourmet Foods.

Los Gatos-to-be in the 1890s was thinking big. George G. Bruntz, Ph.D., tells the story in The History of Los Gatos.

Beckwith was among the "good and solid citizens" who formed a committee of 12 to determine the boundaries of the town, according to Bruntz. Under laws of the state of California, a town of 2,000 could incorporate as a sixth-class city.

As early as 1887, the editor of the The News wrote that there were matters requiring attention--sidewalks, of which there were none; control of drainage; lawlessness; and removal of filth and rubbish.

The committee decided on boundaries that were approved by the county supervisors. There was to be a governing board of five trustees, whose terms would expire alternately so that there were always holdover officers. A clerk, an assessor, a marshal and a tax collector would be elected.

The election on incorporation was held July 28, l887, with 126 voting for it and 44 against. After county and state approval a year or two later, Los Gatos became a municipality. One of the town's first actions was to permit the Hooke fruit cannery (behind where the Los Gatos Cinema stands today) to cross Santa Cruz Avenue with a short spur train track.

Beckwith became the town's first engineer. George McMurtry, the town's first treasurer, held his office for 40 years. The town clerk earned $480 a year; the marshal, $730 a year; and "The Policeman," $720 a year.

The original smiling sunburst logo in the pediment still smiles down on Main Street and the hills beyond.

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John Baggerly is now semi-retired. This column is from the Los Gatos Weekly- Times archives.

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