Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Los Gatos Weekly-Times file photograph

A century ago, adventuresome Los Gatans found it a special treat to take a train into San Jose and have their photographs taken.

Picture from the Past

John S. Baggerly

San Jose was a delightful destination for Los Gatans

Hourglass figures, high-button shoes, derbies and stovepipe hats were the vogue when this group of Los Gatos young people took the train to San Jose to have their picture taken. That was considered a lark in those days--1884.

The late Mary Yocco Rugh, daughter of Ella Knowles Yocco (lower left), recalled her mother's capers.

"The girls loved to go to San Jose, have their picture taken, look around town and have sweets at O'Brien's on First Street."

O'Brien's was a classy restaurant entered from First Street between its soda fountain and lengthy candy display under glass.

It was on one of these excursions that the young ladies, outfitted for the camera, inveigled two handsome men, George McMurtry (left) and Dr. Frank W. Knowles, to accompany them for a memorable group photo and day on the town.

The girls were Ella Knowles, mentioned above, Mary McMurtry (upper left), and Kate McMurtry (lower right). The girl in the upper right was unidentified. Ella Knowles later became Mrs. Edward C. Yocco.

Mary Yocco Rugh, whose father owned a butcher shop on the south side of E. Main St. east of the bridge, recalled when these jaunts came to a sudden halt. One day the girls arrived in San Jose at the old depot on N. First Street and were walking southward when they came upon a murder scene. They saw a dead man who had been shot and was being hauled away in a hack. The victim had been shot by the superintendent of San Jose schools. After that experience, the girls were afraid to visit San Jose for a time.

The Yocco family was one of the owners of Los Gatos Cemetery, located at the southeast corner of Saratoga Avenue and N. Santa Cruz Avenue. The cemetery was later moved to its present location on Los Gatos-Almaden Road.

Dr. Knowles' first office was on Church Street, next to the old Methodist Church. Knowles made house calls on horseback, even into the mountains above town.

The town's oldest residence was built by Dr. W.S. McMurtry, a "horse doctor" and father of George. The house stood at the northeast corner of Main and Mill streets, the latter known today as Church Street.

For many years George McMurtry ran the family grocery store just west of their home. The town's post office was located there.

George McMurtry became the town's first treasurer in 1887 and served for more than 40 years. After his grocery store years he and Judge Arch Bell were partners in McMurtry and Bell Real Estate and Insurance, located at the northwest corner of Main and University Avenue.

Dr. Knowles was a busy local figure. Besides being a longtime doctor, Knowles was a petitioner (to county supervisors) for town incorporation, second subscriber to the local telephone company, and an original director of Los Gatos National Bank in 1927.

When he became too old to play the game of golf, McMurtry contented himself with putting on the green and talking with friends. This was some 60 years after he sported a derby and accompanied pretty girls for a picture-taking day and sweets.

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