N is for . . .

Credit: Anonymous photographer (Life time: Hollister (1818-1886))
Photo is in public domain. It was found at Wikipedia.

Namesake.

In 1868, the San Justo Homestead Association named the new town they established in Monterey County after the man who sold his property to the group. He was William Welles Hollister, who was originally from Hanover, Ohio.

About 14 years earlier, the 36-year old Hollister, called Colonel Hollister by some, which was an honorary title, probably to distinguish himself as gentleman of means, led a sheep drive of several thousand sheep from Ohio to California. His party included his brother and sister (Mrs. Lucy Brown) and over 50 other people. In Nevada, Hollister met Dr. Thomas Flint, Benjamin Flint, and Llewellyn Bixby, who were leading a sheep drive from Illinois. By 1855, the four men formed a partnership. That same year, the partnership purchased the Rancho San Justo land grant, which consisted of much of the land around present-day San Juan Bautista and Hollister.

In 1861, the partnership was dissolved and the rancho divided in half, with the San Benito River as the demarcation line. Hollister owned everything to the east and Dr. Flint, everything to the west. Colonel Hollister thought he got a bum deal and demanded $10,000. Flint offered to trade parcels if Hollister paid him $10,000.

So, they exchanged lands. And, Hollister built his mansion at the foot of Park Hill, which is where the new courthouse now stands.

After several years, Hollister decided to sell his property of nearly 21,000 acres. A group of men organized the San Justo Homestead Association on October 10, 1868, with a capital stock of $370,000, according to the San Benito Advance (January 15, 1876). The association agreed to pay $370,000 to Hollister, who received $100,000 upon signing the sales contract and the rest of the amount, plus 10 percent interest, within seven years. The association made the last payment to Hollister in January, 1876.

After selling his property, "Colonel" Hollister moved to Santa Barbara where he became known as the largest wool grower in the state, according to Wikipedia. He died in 1886 at the age of 68.

Hollister, California became an incorporated city on August 29, 1872. It became the county seat of the newly formed San Benito County two years later.

Interested in learning more about the history of Hollister, the man, and his namesake, the city of Hollister?  Check out these links:

• A Brief History of San Benito County by the San Benito County Historical Society
• William Welles Hollister by Wikipedia
• San Benito Advance

 

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M is for. . .

Maze. . . Corn maze . . .the spectacular Swank Farms Corn Maze!

Every October, Swank Farms of Hollister opens its gate on San Felipe Road and welcomes the public to venture into its maniacal corn maze. Each year, Bonnie Swank designs a new, and even crazier, maze for people to find their way through by figuring where more than two dozen spots are hidden in the maze. People can try their skills and intuition at day or night.

For more details, as well as to learn about other attractions Swank Farms offer, check out its website.

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L is for . . .

Location, location, location.

And, Hollister is an excellent location to live.

It's seven miles east of San Juan Bautista, one of the 21 California missions.

It's 30-some miles from Pinnacles National Park, one of the newest parks in the U.S. National Park Service.

It's about an hour away from Monterey and Santa Cruz. 

It's also an hour away from San Jose and Silicon Valley.

And, depending on how you drive, 90 minutes to two hours from San Francisco.

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K is for . . .

Still kicking!

And, still kicking is the San Benito County Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo, which began in 1929. Every year, the event takes place at the Bolado Park Fairgrounds in Tres Pinos, about 8 miles south of Hollister. This year, the weekend event will be Friday, June 26 to Sunday, June 28.

As in past years, The Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo will kick off on Thursday evening (June 25) with the a parade through Downtown Hollister.

 

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J is for . . .

Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

Though in my case, it was more like being pushed out of the plane. I got to the edge of the door. No problem. But, then I looked down and hesitated. The instructor to whom I was firmly attached gave me a friendly nudge.

Voila! We began falling from 18,000 feet high. 

What a rush! What an experience!

That was back in 2006. Some friends and I wanted to celebrate being in our 50s, and skydiving was the party we chose. So, we did our tandem jumping with Skydive Hollister, located at the Hollister Airport.  We took off in Hollister and jumped out above Tres Pinos, landing in the field across from the Immaculate Conception Church, alongside Highway 25.

Yeah, I'd do it again.

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I is for. . .

It!  Hollister has it!

Cuteness

Agriculture

Compassion

Culture

Excitement 

Preservation

Open Space

Eccentricity

Sweetness

And, that's just the start of the It! that Hollister has!

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H is for . . .

Hollister, California.

A no-brainer for the letter H, right? Instead of reinventing the wheel for this post, I thought let me just republish something I wrote on October, 15, 2014 about my hometown. So, here you go.

Methinks it's time again to say that Hollister, California, the store, is not the same as Hollister, California, the city.

Yup.

Abercrombie & Fitch began selling apparel with the Hollister brand in 2000, which is weaved around the fictional beach town of Hollister in Southern California where the made-up Hollister Company is located. Either the fantasy town or company was established in 1922 by an imaginary  Dutch East Indies immigrant named John Hollister. The marketing team must've had fun dreaming up the fanciful, fake Hollister, California story.

Hollister is in the far distance, at the foot of the mountain range

The real city of Hollister is located in San Benito County, the only landlocked county of the Central Coast region of California, which is about 45 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. The ocean breeze, as well as the fog, comes through the low mountain passes on most days. Thank goodness for that, otherwise the temperatures, especially in the summer, would be unbearably hot.

Hollister was founded in 1868 and, until it incorporated as a city in 1872, the town was part of Monterey County. Two years later, Hollister became the county seat of the newly formed San Benito County.

The main industry in our county is agriculture. It has been from the start and unless all the ranchers and farmers sell their land to housing developers and oil companies, we shall always be an agricultural community. Something for which we, locals, ought to be proud. The number of local farmers and ranchers choosing to follow sustainable and organic farming practices continues to increase, which I think is good for both our health and the environment.

The mascot for our local high school is the Haybaler, also called Baler. Not a machine, but a young farmer. Everyone who goes--and went--to San Benito High School, also known as Hollister High School, is a Haybaler, regardless of whether the person played a sport or not. Once a Haybaler, always a Haybaler.

I don't know about the history of the mascot, but in the late 19th century, our area was known for the quality and quantity of its Hollister Hay. During the summer of 1892, for example, 5,412 tons of hay was shipped from Hollister to Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, New York, and other parts of the United States.  In fact, the Lathrop Hay Company, owned by Hollister pioneer resident Levi B. Lathrop, constructed some of the largest hay warehouses in the world back then. Lathrop built the first hay warehouse to have a railroad track running through it and to have railroad track scales. That's rather impressive.

Hey! How did I end up talking about hay?

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