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Photograph courtesy of Willys Peck
Charles Maclay's Bank Mills as it appeared in 1871.
Saratoga Stereopticon
Saratoga already on the path to the next 100 years
By Willys Peck
It is a matter of record in this space that I will not be acknowledging the end of the century and the start of the new millennium until a year hence. Still, the change in numbering from the 1900s to the 2000s calls for some sort of commemorative effort, so I am undertaking to predict what Saratoga will be like a hundred years from now, in the year 2100.
We're talking horse's mouth here, and if you doubt my predictions, just stick around for another century; medical science is already well on the way to making that possible.
First off, Saratoga will change its name back to Bank Mills, the post office designation from Dec. 22, 1863, to March 13, 1865, when the name Saratoga became official. This will not only be a bow to history and the role of Charles Maclay, entrepreneur and legislator, but it will preserve the town's claim to exclusiveness and high real estate prices. In fact, this will be the motivating factor. People who have been paying seven- and eight-figure prices for houses here, as they will be in 2100, won't want to live in a place that could be confused with others on the map.
This element of commonness is borne out by the fact that Arkansas, Indiana, North Carolina, Texas and Wyoming all have cities named Saratoga. There are no other cities in the United States named Bank Mills.
It may be noted parenthetically that the recent dust-up over whether the name Saratoga comes from an Iroquois Indian word meaning "floating scum on the water" will not have been a factor in the change.
Some minor embarrassment will be experienced by school athletic teams with "B.M." as part of their name, but they will rise above it.
In 2100, Saratoga's Heritage Orchard will be the only fruit-growing tract left in the nine Bay Area counties and, as such, will draw throngs of visitors. Preservation will not have come easily. At least one duel will have been fought over whether the area should be made into soccer fields or developed commercially.
Agriculture will have been arrived at as a compromise and the city mothers-it will be an all-woman council by then-will see to it that the tourist potential is exploited. There will be a Mr. Rogers-type individual to take older children aside and ask, "Can you say ay-pri-cot?" Younger ones will be introduced to the idea that trees can bear edible fruit in the first place.
A hundred years from now, Saratoga Avenue will still be two lanes, but again, it will not have been an easy accomplishment. There will be a time when four-lane advocates will appear to have triumphed, but their efforts will be thwarted by irate citizens planting land mines.
"There's not a jury in the country that would convict them," will be the cry at the time, and that's the way it will turn out.
Saratoga Creek is another element of the landscape that will see great changes in the coming century. There will be a period when developers will have the stream contained in a large, underground concrete pipeline, thereby creating more land for houses. The same faction that battled for Saratoga Avenue will take on this atrocity and the developers, realizing that discretion is the better part of valor, will restore the creek to its sylvan beauty before any houses are built.
Do you think I'm kidding in all this? Stick around for a few years, say a hundred, and see if I'm not right.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
