1866 Santa Cruz map

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The 1866 "Map of Santa Cruz" was commissioned by the town corporation's first Board of Trustees. Its original three members were ___, ___, and ___. The surveying and map making job went to Solomon W. Foreman, a local civil engineer, and Thomas W. Wright, the County Surveyor.

Along with creation of the map, many streets shown on the map were given official names for the first time. The name of Willow Street was changed to Pacific Avenue, and Main Street was changed to Front Street. A Sentinel article ("The Official Survey of Santa Cruz", Santa Cruz Sentinel, Jun 23, 1866, 2:4) described the changes. "Locust street, Cooper street and Church street, are unchanged in location or name."

Many other streets got official names for the first time, including:

  • River ("the street passing the foundry, around the bluff towards the paper mill",
  • Potrero ("the road leading past the entrance to the cemetery through the Potrero") - the northern half is now Evergreen Street,
  • High ("the Limekiln road"),
  • Water ("the San Jose road"),
  • Mission ("the Coast road, from the Lower Plaza to Four Corners"),
  • Union, Green, Cross (no previous names given)
  • Rincon (the street at the base of the hill south of school lot").

A second map was produced - an enlargement of the downtown core named "Map A" (the full city map is "Map B"). The enlargement allowed the smaller parcels in the core area to be labeled with either property owner names or numbers correlated to a list. The Sentinel article included that list, divided into the map's 13 "blocks". For a complete list, see the "Persons on 1866 map" category. Boundary descriptions of the thirteen blocks were also published, as follows:

  • BLOCK NO. 1. Bounded north by Mission Orchard; west by Upper Plaza; south by Mission street; east by River street.
  • BLOCK NO. 2. Bounded north by High street (Lime-Kiln road); east by Upper Plaza; south by Mission and King streets; west by "Tres Ojos" Rancho.
  • BLOCK NO. 3. Bounded north and westerly by Mission street; south bv Locust street; east by Rincon street [most of Rincon is now Chestnut], subdivided by Union, Green, Cross and Spring Streets [Note: this is not today's Spring Street. The earlier block-long street paralleled Green between Rincon and Cross - it disappeared when the cut was made for the Mission Hill railroad tunnel.]
  • BLOCK NO. 4. Bounded east by Pacific Avenue (formerly Willow street); north by Mission street; north westerly by Rincon street); south by Locust street.
  • BLOCK NO. 5. Bounded south by Cooper street; east by Front street (formerly Main street); west by Pacific Avenue (a triangular lot).
  • BLOCK NO. 6. Bounded south by Water street (San Jose Road); north bv Imus' lands; west by River street (Powder Mill Road). Owned by Elihu Anthony, residence.
  • BLOCK NO. 7. Bounded east by the San Lorenzo river; north by Water street; west by Front street; southwesterly by Cooper street.
  • BLOCK NO. 8. Bounded south by Bridge street [now Soquel Ave.]; east by Cooper street; north by Front street.
  • BLOCK NO. 9. Bounded west by Pacific Avenue; south by Bridge street; east by Front street; north by Cooper street.
  • BLOCK NO. 10. Bounded east bv Pacific Avenue; north by Locust street; west by Rincon street; south by Lincoln street.
  • BLOCK NO. 11. Bounded east by Rincon street; north by Locust street; west by Mission street; south by Lincoln street.
  • BLOCK NO. 12. Bounded on the east by Pacific Avenue; north by Lincoln street; south by Laurel street.
  • BLOCK NO. 13. Bounded west by Pacific Avenue; south and east by San Lorenzo river; north by Bridge street.

See also