Gilroy ' s Miller Red Barn
A Sense of Place in the Valley of Heart ' s Delight by Mike Monroe
In April this year , the Miller Red Barn was opened to welcome an Earth Day event after years of effort to restore the historic structure . At present , the interior of the Barn is being designed as an exhibit space with display panels depicting the agricultural heritage of southern Santa Clara County .
There have been many twists and turns during the lifespan of the Barn . It was built in 1891 by Henry Miller , also known as the Cattle King of California . After years of wear and tear took their toll , the Miller Red Barn Association formed in 2014 to save the Barn from demolition . Here are some of the less well-known historical aspects of the Barn property :
Henry Miller began gobbling up ranching lands in the 1860s to support his livestock empire . As the descendants of the original Mexican families sold or were coerced to sell their rancho holdings after the Gold Rush , Miller aggressively accumulated vast acreages in South County — over 27,000 acres in the Gilroy area alone . West of the small city of Gilroy was a beautiful profitable orchards and vineyards were planted . The Barn was constructed of rough-hewn redwood lumber sourced from the slopes of Mt . Madonna and milled at either Magic Springs or the Whitehurst & Hodges yard .
As wine grapes were becoming a very profitable crop , Miller converted much of the Glen Farm ' s acreage into vineyards . In 1906 , he leased a portion of the Glen Ranch to the California Wine Association and sold six acres along Monterey Road for development of the Las Animas Winery north of Gilroy . The lease term was nearly complete when Prohibition came into effect with the Volstead Act of 1919 . Much of the Glen Farm was then repurposed for orchard trees , especially prunes . Prunes and apricots were dried during the summer by the Thomas family in the Uvas Creek channel . After Henry Miller ' s death in 1916 , the Thomas ' s purchased a section of the Glen in 1921 for $ 180,000.00 .
The Filice family from southern Italy arrived in the Gilroy area in 1908 and soon developed the very successful Filice & Perrelli cannery . They invested in local farm and ranch lands with an eye toward grape cultivation . When the Volstead Act was repealed in 1933 ,
MAIN IMAGE : The Miller Red Barn today . ABOVE : Henry Miller , circa 1887 . RIGHT : The Miller Red Barn Association fought to save the barn from demolition in 2014 , raising funds and support to complete the building of this magnificent public space .
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