Gilroy Centennial Celebaration 1814-1914, June 27, 1914.
One Bob Fowler's many iconic landings in Gilroy.
that Gilroy’s future growth, now linked with Morgan Hill
along a paved automobile route, would ensure an influx of
visitors and new residents.
The day included a large public picnic followed by a
baseball game between the Gilroy and Monterey teams and
more speeches at Fifth and Monterey Streets to praise the
new highway system.
The afternoon’s festivities concluded with a water fight
between the Vigilant and Eureka fire companies. The
100-vehicle auto pageant and street dance filled Monterey
Street with thousands of partygoers. The new Monterey
Street paving provided a smooth dance floor that boasted
a six-inch concrete foundation overlaid with two inches of
asphalt. The modern pavement stretched from Second to
Eighth Streets, joined at either end by the new state highway.
An in-project next phase would stretch all the way south to
Sargents.
Gilroy’s new Chamber of Commerce, which had orga-
nized the day’s festivities, also received accolades for its
promotion of major beautification efforts in town. Counted
among the Chamber’s successful projects were sidewalk
installation, front yard fence removal, regulation of Monterey
Street storefront awnings, and promoting the city’s decision
to hire a forestry board to plant more trees in town. Last but
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Monterey Road pre-paving.
not least, the Chamber succeeded in campaigning for stron-
ger enforcement of a dog ordinance.
The Centennial aside, 1914 had been quite a year for
Gilroy. Bond issues had authorized water and fire system
improvements. This included installation of a cement lining
in the city reservoir to provide more sanitary drinking water
for the town’s 3,000 citizens.
Only one flaw dampened Gilroy’s 1914 Centennial, but it
was a big one. Bob Fowler’s touted Monterey Street flyover
never came off. South of San Francisco, his plane stalled.
Fowler was compelled to glide his biplane down to earth
at Coyote, where he …left it in a field. The disappointed
aviator had to hitch a ride into town, where he joined the
Centennial parade on the ground, instead of from the air.
SPRING 2020
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