Soquel Timeline and Bibliography
Soquel Timeline
This timeline lists chronologically some of the important events in Soquel history. In most cases, the source of the date is also listed. Author-date sources refer to the bibliography following the timeline. If you have corrections or suggested additions, please email the Pioneers. Copyright © 2022 by the Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association.
Circa 12,000 years before present. People first settle the region. [Source: Cartier, Robert R. and Victoria Bobo. 2002. “Early Peoples of Monterey Bay: The Scotts Valley Site.” Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 5, page 109. (Issue title: A Gathering of Voices)]
Circa 3,000 years before present. Local residents shift towards the greater use of plant foods such as seeds and acorns instead of animal foods. [Source: Cartier, Robert R. and Victoria Bobo. 2002. “Early Peoples of Monterey Bay: The Scotts Valley Site.” Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 5, page 112. (Issue title: A Gathering of Voices)]
1542. Spain lays claim to what is now the coast of California.
1769. First European land expedition passes through the lands of the local Uypi and Aptos people around October 16 (led by Gaspar de Portolá).
1791. Mission Santa Cruz founded. The mission lands stretch from the Pajaro Valley to Año Nuevo, including Soquel. The second and third Indigenous People baptized at the mission were headman Suquer and his wife, who were from Soquel. The town of Soquel probably derived its name from the Spanish corruption of this man’s name. [Source: Milliken, Randall. 2002. “The Spanish Contact & Mission Period Indians of the Santa Cruz-Monterey Bay Region,” Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 5, page 34. (Issue title: A Gathering of Voices)]
1821-22. Mexico wins independence from Spain after a decade-long war, and California comes under Mexican rule. [Source: Hart, James D., 1978, A Companion To California (New York: Oxford University Press), page 269]
1833. Rancho Soquel granted by the Mexican government to Martina Castro. It included what is now the village of Soquel on the east side of Soquel Creek. [Source: Clark, 2008, page 273]
1834. Rancho Arroyo Del Rodeo granted by the Mexican government to Francisco Rodriguez and his wife Rafaela Castro (sister of Martina). It included what is now the village of Soquel on the west side of Soquel Creek. [Source: Rowland, 1980, page 66; Clark, 2008, page 259]
1844. Rancho Soquel Augmentation is granted by the Mexican government to Martina Castro. At 32,702 acres, it was the largest Mexican land grant in Santa Cruz County and encompassed the area from Soquel north to the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains. [Source: Clark, 2008, page 273]
1845. John Daubenbiss and John Hames build the first sawmill on Soquel Creek (under an agreement with Martina Castro and Michael Lodge). [Source: Rowland, 1980, page 68]
1848. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed on February 2, ending the Mexican-American War and making California part of the United States.
1850. California becomes a state in the United States.
1852. Town of Soquel founded [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 8; Lydon and Swift, 1978, page 6]
1853. First two schools established [Source: Rowland, 1980, page 73]
1857. A wharf is built near the mouth of Soquel Creek in what is now Capitola. It is known as Soquel Landing. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 20]
1857. Soquel Post Office established at Ned Porter’s general store with Ned Porter as first postmaster. [Source: Rowland, 1980, page 71]
1858. Santa Clara Turnpike Co. formed to build a road over the mountains. [Source: Rowland, 1980, p. 74]
1850s. Soquel Cemetery established on land donated by John Daubenbiss. Later operated by the International Order of Odd Fellows. [Source: Rowland, 1980, p. 75]
1860. First one-room school established on the present Soquel School site [Source: Rowland, 1980, page 75]
1862. Soquel and much of California is flooded in the early part of the year. [Source: Rowland, 1980, p. 65]
1866. Grover brothers establish a saw mill on Bates Creek. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 25]
1867. Mountain School established. [Source: Koch, Margaret. Going to School in Santa Cruz County. (Santa Cruz: County Office of Education, 1978) page 174]
1868. Congregational Church constructed. It would soon become a Soquel landmark. [Source: Rowland, 1980, page 81]
1874. A sugar refinery is established to make beet sugar, but only operates a few years. Chinese workers harvest sugar beets grown in nearby fields. [Source: Perry, Frank. “Lime’s Sweet History.” Lime Kiln Chronicles, Spring/Summer 2010, p. 3; https://limeworks.ucsc.edu/newsletter/issues/lkc-2010-spring.pdf]
1876. A railroad is completed between Santa Cruz and Watsonville. [Source: Lydon & Swift, 1978, page 24]
1879-80. South Coast Paper Mill is established, manufacturing brown wrapping paper. It continues operating intermittently until the 1930s. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 31]
1880. First telephone in Soquel (connects to a phone in Capitola). [Source: Perry, 2018]
Late 1880s. Mountain View Ranch established as a resort on Laurel Glen Road. In 1950 it is purchased by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters and renamed St. Clare’s Retreat. [Source: Clark, 2008, page 209]
1890. A two-story school house built on Porter Street replaces several smaller schools. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 70]
1905. Stafford’s Inn established on Bates Creek. Later becomes Prescott’s Inn, then Denton’s Mountain Inn, and is today the Land of Medicine Buddha. [Source: Wright, 2000]
1906. Severe earthquake strikes on April 18th. Nine workers at a logging mill on Hinckley Creek are killed by a quake-triggered landslide. The quake ignites fires in San Francisco which destroy much of the city. [Source: Griggs, Gary. Between Paradise and Peril (Santa Cruz: Monterey Bay Press, 2018), page 27]
1912. The Walnut Avenue Bridge over Soquel Creek collapses. It was not rebuilt, though a pedestrian bridge was built at the same location in the 1980s. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 102]
1913. Porter Memorial Public Library opens. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 68]
1921. New Soquel Grammar School built. It is designed in the mission revival style by prominent California architect William Weeks. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011 page 72]
1926. Silent movie, The Johnstown Flood, filmed in Soquel. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 81]
1926. A fire destroys commercial buildings along Soquel Drive west of Porter Street. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 103]
1929. Monterey Bay Golf and Country Club opens and surrounding subdivision is marketed as “Monterey Bay Heights.” [Source: https://rispincapitola.weebly.com/rispin-biography.html, p. 36]
1929. Casalegno’s Store (now Casalegno’s Market) opens at the intersection of Laurel Glen Road and “Old San Jose Road.” [Source: https://www.facebook.com/casalegnoscountry/]
1930. Fire destroys the Nutter and Russell apple drier, but it is rebuilt the following year. [Source: “Fire Destroys Old Capitola Apple Drier,” Santa Cruz Evening News, November 10, 1930, page 1]
1933. Bargetto Winery formally established December 5 following the end of Prohibition. [Source: Bargetto & Dunn, 2008, page 49]
1938. Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association founded.
1940. Soquel badly flooded in February. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 104]
1940. A fire in November destroys several buildings along Soquel Drive at South Main Street. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 104]
1947. Seventh Day Adventists purchase 87-acres for a conference ground on “Old San Jose Road” north of Soquel. [Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel-News, March 7, 1947, page 14]
1948. Osocales (Soquel’s first movie theater) opens September 12. [Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel-News, Sept. 10, 1948, page 1]
1949. Highway 1 freeway dedicated November 4. It becomes the boundary between the village of Soquel and the newly incorporated City of Capitola. [Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel-News, November 3, 1949, page 16]
1955. Severe flood damages Soquel just before Christmas in what was one of the worst floods in Northern California history. High water also damages downtown Santa Cruz. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 105]
1957. First Soquel-O-Rama held October 11-12 with a parade and community events. The annual celebration continues through 1985. [Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel, September 11, 1957, page 26]
1961. Soquel Creek Water District established. [Source: Lydon, 1989]
1962. Soquel High School opens. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 110]
1962. Cabrillo College opens in September at its new Soquel Drive campus after temporary quarters in Watsonville since 1959. Although given an Aptos address, it was built on part of the old Rancho Soquel. Initial enrollment was over 2,000 students. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011; Cabrillo College Catalog, 1973-74, page 13]
1966. Army Corps of Engineers abandons plans for a 260-foot-high earthen dam on Soquel Creek, first proposed in 1963. [Source: Perry, 2018, “An Alternative History. . . ,” page 156]
1989. Severe earthquake hits region on October 17th. Many commercial and residential buildings are damaged. [Source: 5:04 P.M.: The Great Quake of 1989 (Santa Cruz: Santa Cruz Sentinel Publishing Co., 1989]
1991. Land of Medicine Buddha opens at former site of Stafford’s Inn. [Source: Wright, 2000]
1993. Main Street Elementary School opens Sept. 7. [Source: Edwards, Katherine. “Soquel’s New School Opens.” Santa Cruz County Sentinel, Sept. 8, 1993, page 1]
2001. Anna Jean Cummings Park is dedicated May 5 after a 30-year battle to protect the land from development. [Perry, 2018, page 159]
2002. Lawrence Bargetto Bridge completed at a cost of $3.5 million. The previous bridge over Soquel Creek caused log-jams, resulting in flooding of the downtown area. [Source: Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee, 2011, page 106]
2015. Heart of Soquel Park completed. Also known as Heart of Soquel Plaza Park (on sign) and Heart of Soquel County Park (on county website). [Source:https://www.scparks.com/Home/ExploreOurParksBeaches/AllCountyParks/HeartofSoquelCountyPark.aspx]
2022-2023. Heavy rains caused Soquel Creek to overtop its banks the night of December 31, 2022 – January 1, 2023. The intersection of Porter and Soquel had to be temporarily closed. Water and mud entered downtown stores. Fortunately, levels were not nearly as high as in 1982.
Soquel Bibliography
Bargetto, John E. and Geoffrey Dunn. 2013.Vintage Bargetto: Celebrating a Century of California Wine Making (Soquel, California: Bargetto Winery). 110 pages.
Clark, Donald Thomas. 2008. Santa Cruz County Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary (Scotts Valley, California: Kestrel Press). 527 pages.
Deleissegues, Rebecca and Lucretia Hames Mylar. 1929. Early Days of Corralitos and Soquel (Hollister, California: Evening Free Lance). Unpaginated.
Freshour, Sidney Glenn. 1995. Wagons to Soquel: 1732 to 1932 (Modesto, California: Glenhaven Press). 524 pages.
Lydon, Sandy and Carolyn Swift. 1978. Soquel Landing to Capitola-by-the-Sea (Cupertino, California: California History Center). 99 pages.
Lydon, Sandy. 1989. The History of the Soquel Creek Water District, 1961-1988. (Soquel, California: Soquel Creek Water District). 46 pages.
Patten, Phyllis Bertorelli. 1969. Oh, That Reminds Me. . . (Felton: Big Trees Press). 114 pages.
Perry, Frank. 2018. A Companion to Capitola (Capitola, California: Capitola Historical Museum). 94 pages.
Perry, Frank. 2018. “An Alternative History of Santa Cruz County.” Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 9. Pages 154-163. (Issue title: Landscapes: Activism that shaped Santa Cruz County, 1955 -2005). A longer version is available online as part of the Online History Journal of Santa Cruz County.
Powell, Ronald G. (Edited by Derek Whaley). 2021. Reign of the Lumber Barons: Part Two of the History of Rancho Soquel Augmentation. (Santa Cruz, California: Zayante Press). 490 pages.
Powell, Ronald G. (Edited by Derek Whaley). 2020. The Tragedy of Martina Castro: Part One of the History of Rancho Soquel Augmentation. (Santa Cruz, California: Zayante Publishing). 588 pages.
Reynolds, Willa Dean. 1986. Mid-County Santa Cruz, California, Soquel . . . as abstracted from the pages of the Santa Cruz Surf. (Soquel, California: self published). 200 pages.
Reynolds, Willa Dean. 2009. “Michael Lodge: The Overlooked Pioneer.” Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 9. Pages. 6-16. (Issue title: Pathways to the Past)
Rowland, Leon. 1980. Santa Cruz: The Early Years (Santa Cruz, California: Paper Vision Press). Pages 57-91. Includes The Story of Old Soquel, first published in 1940.
Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee. 2011. Images of America: Soquel. (Charleston, North Carolina: Arcadia Publishing). 127 pages.
Stevens, Stanley D., editor. 1998. Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 4. 301 pages. (Issue title: The Society of California Pioneers of Santa Cruz County, California).
Stevens, Stanley D. (compiler). 2011. Index to Soquel by the Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association Book Committee. (Santa Cruz: privately printed). Unpaginated.
Swift, Carolyn. 1997. “Stones to the Four Winds: The Sorrow of Martina Castro Lodge,” Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 3. Pages 123-134.
Tutwiler, Paul. 2009. Santa Cruz Spirituality. 4th Edition. 370 pages. Last updated in November, 2012. Available on the Santa Cruz Public Library website: http://www.santacruzspirituality.net/completetext.pdf
Wright, Murray J. 2000. At the End of Prescott Road: The Tale of a Historic Soquel Inn. (Soquel, California: Land of Medicine Buddha). 107 pages.