Little is known for certain about the cluster of early redwood
buildings at the corner
of Main and
Carlo Streets. The location is where Michael Hughes built the
first wood frame house in Milpitas. He constructed sheds,
barn and various farming out buildings. To the south he had
a small fenced pasture where he ran a dairy.
According to the city’s historic sites inventory, at least one
house on the site is believed
originally
to have been built by A. Rose. According to one long time
resident,
this was either
Alfred or Amaro Rose who were from the Azores but not related to
the
Rose family
for whom Rose Peak, the mountain to the east and north of Milpitas
is
named. A hand
drawn map of the Main Street of the 1930s, believed to have been
made
by Ray Madruga
in the late 1970s, identifies the property as being the residence
of
the Valencia
family.
Originally there was not a street where Carlo Street is today.
There was a Ford Motor
dealership
and a service station owned by Frank Krusich right where the
middle of
Carlo Street
is. The original street that ran nearby was an extension of the
present
day Spence
Street, a residential street in the Milpitas Manor neighborhood,
which
cannot be
seen from the modern intersection. Today, Spence Street ends about
150
yards to the
west of Main Street. The spot where the old street intersected
Main
Street is due
west of the historic Spangler Brothers' Service Station (the
independent gas station
on the corner of Main and Carlo Streets).
To the north, on the corner of old Spence Street and Main Street
was
the first residence
of Sal Cracolice. The pioneering pharmacist in Milpitas, who for
many years was
known as "Mr.
Milpitas", Cracolice walked to his business which was in the large
two
story
building, then called Maple Hall, near the intersection of Main
and
Serra Streets.
Today the Calaveras Blvd. overpass covers the site of the
Cracolice
home.
Dr. Cracolice’s neighbors to the north were the Ray Madruga
family.
Madruga owned
a blacksmithy and metal shop called the Madruga Iron Works located
on
the east side
of Main Street about 200 feet south of the Main and Carlo
interection
where there
is presently a Buddhist convent. Today one sits in the Madruga's
front
yard while
waiting for
a County Transit bus under the overpass!
Madruga's Iron Works (his blacksmith shop) is believed to have been built by David Boyce and Edward Topham in the 1870s. Here they invented the famous Milpitas Plow.
[This
view c.1900 of David Boyce and Edward Topham's blacksmith shop.]
Present on the site in 1997 were a tall pump/tank house (the last
privately owned one in the
city), a small main house, a one car garage/storeroom, and other
small
outbuildings. At that time, it was one of fewer than a dozen
original homes which still stood along Main Street
but was the only one believed to be in its original condition and
with
its original
associated structures.
In 2000, the owner tore down all of the buildings to make the
property
more appealing for sale to developers. Today, the site is
vacant
and awaiting commercial development.