Places

Southern Pacific Railroad

In the 1930s, Manuel Azevedo gave up part of Dairy Hill to the Southern Pacific Railroad, and literally changed the “lay of the land”.

In the midst of the Depression, the city of San José decided to re-route the Southern Pacific Railroad (SPRR) on its course between downtown San José and the Hillsdale Station (about 1 mile south of Dairy Hill). The original route was along 4th Street and cut through the middle of downtown, causing severe traffic backups. The route also featured a notoriously sharp turn - known as the Julian Street curve - between the Market Street Station and Fourth Street. Trains had to move slowly and carefully through the section to avoid jumping the tracks in the middle of downtown.

The SPRR was re-routed to go around the western slope of Dairy Hill and into downtown on the city's western edge. The new route cut through part of the Azevedo land and required a saddle to be dug between two of the hills. The route also required new underpasses, bridges and tracks, and thus a great deal of soil for grading – a perfect use of the dirt removed to create the saddle. Manuel Azevedo gave up some 120,000 cubic yards of his land (in the form of fill) to make the line possible.

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