a little more local history . . . Capt. Thomas Fallon . Mayor of San Jose Thomas Fallon 1859–1860 . The self-styled captain raised a party of 20 or so men, crossed the Santa Cruz Mountains and seized San Jose from the Mexicans. Fallon is lauded as the man who raised the American flag over San Jose in 1846. San Jose Some places are great architecture; some are known for their owners. Thomas Fallon had all the makings of a folk hero -- a fine-looking man with courtly manners and a ready Irish wit; his story has found a place in the legends of the Mexican War in California. Born in Ireland in 1824, he was sent to Canada as a boy and bound out as an apprentice in the saddlers trade. His love of adventure spurred him to take his chances in the American West. At 18, he headed for Texas. The following year, in the company of some fellow romantics, he embarked on the novel enterprise of marching to the Pacific coast, arriving in the spring of 1844. He settled in Santa Cruz. When word of the Bear Flag Revolt reached Fallon in June 1846, he simply decided to raise a party and go help them. The self-styled captain raised a party of 20 or so men, crossed the Santa Cruz Mountains and seized San Jose from the Mexicans. Fallon is lauded as the man who raised the flag over San Jose in 1846. After the end of the Mexican War, Fallon returned to Santa Cruz, where, in 1848, he married Carmelita Castro, the beautiful half-Irish, half-Spanish daughter of one of the areas largest landowners. Everything turned to gold that year for Fallon. At Big Bar in the goldfields, he made a fortune in a few months and, back in Santa Cruz, built a large-frame building facing Mission Plaza. In 1850, Carmelita received one-ninth of her motherMartina Castros 34, 000-acre Rancho Soquel. They sold their house to newly formed Santa Cruz County for use as the county courthouse, and the Fallons packed up and left for Texas. After the tragic death of three of their children from cholera, in 1854 they returned to California where they had six more children and Fallon began to buy up land in San Jose. Sometime before 1859, when he became mayor of San Jose, Fallon built this house, one of the towns finest residences, fronted by formal gardens. But all was not well with the Fallon household. Amid reports of Fallons affair with their housekeeper, Carmelita divorced him in 1877 and moved back to Santa Cruz. It was rumored he was discovered in the bedroom in a compromising position. Fallon remarried briefly, in 1882, was again divorced; he closed the San Jose house and moved to San Franciscos Lick House. Even at his death in 1885, at age 60, the old Fallon seductiveness was at work; an unsettled breach-of- promise suit against him was pending trial. The litigation over his considerable fortune continued into the 1920s. The fine old house with its tree-filled grounds sat empty for several years until the 1890s, when a kindergarten moved in for a time. In 1894, it was taken over as a boardinghouse. Then catering to San Joses growing Italian population, it became LItalia Hotel, and eventually the Italian Cellar, a popular San Jose restaurant. Today nicely restored, it is part of San Joses History Park, just across the road from the historic Peralta Adob Phyllis Filiberti Butler, Special to The Chronicle Published 4:00 am, Saturday, September 25, 2004 Statue Controversy Revived in San Jose / Placement of pioneer figure derailed in 90s Maria Alicia Gaura, Chronicle Staff Writer Published 4:00 am, Thursday, October 12, 2000 • 2000-10-12 04:00:00 PDT SAN JOSE -- A decade after it vanished into the obscurity of an Oakland warehouse, a larger-than-life statue of California pioneer Capt. Thomas Fallon is poised to arrive -- finally -- in San Jose. But controversy over the bronze behemoth hasnt cooled despite a 10-year timeout. The $445,000 sculpture, commissioned by San Franciscos Swig family, was originally meant to stand in Cesar Chavez Park, across the street from the San Jose Fairmont Hotel. The work was part of the development deal that brought the Fairmont to San Jose. Protests from local Mexican American and Chicano groups derailed that plan. Latino activists argued that honoring Fallon, who raised the American flag over San Jose two months after Congress declared war on Mexico in 1846, was a symbol of oppression. In the 1990s, we went to the city and told them that this (statue) is a racial insult to people of Mexican descent, said Raul Estremera, a member of the group Pueblo Unido. Last time this happened, the mayor backed down. We are hoping to do that once again. Pueblo Unido has issued flyers comparing the Fallon statue to the Nazi swastika and the Confederate flag and attacked Mayor Ron Gonzales for his role in permitting the statue to be installed. The group has demanded that the statue be melted down and recrafted into a symbol of unity celebrating the city of San Joses ethnic diversity. Protesters also attacked Fallons personal history, noting his two divorces, his mistress and various lawsuits over the course of his life. Estremeras group plans to protest today at Fallons former residence, an 1860s Victorian in downtown San Jose that was converted into a museum. Protesters plan to serve Fallon with a symbolic eviction notice. Former Mayor Tom McEnery, who was a driving force behind much of San Joses historic preservation and a booster of the Fallon statue, said the anti-Fallon forces are attempting to twist history for dubious reasons. Unlike the Soviet Union, we should not try and create a state- sponsored version of history, McEnery said. The American flag was raised here in 1846, and that has nothing to do with the swastika or the other symbols they mention. McEnery noted that Fallon married a Mexican woman from a prominent local family and that all of his children were Latino. Fallon represents a fusion of two cultures, which is hopefully the way our culture will continue to evolve, McEnery said. In 1990, city officials responded to the criticism by cutting a deal. City arts officials would commission and install four works of art celebrating San Joses history and cultural diversity before the Fallon statue was put in place. This April, city arts commissioners informed the City Council that three of the four pieces are in place and that the fourth is under construction. The council voted to bring Fallon out of storage and install the heroically proportioned bronze in an obscure park dedicated to a local prune farmer. The site, Pellier Park, is almost as obscure as a warehouse in Oakland, political observer and local columnist Eric Carlson quipped. Its practically under the freeway. While Fallons image was in exile, redevelopment officials installed a cast-concrete statue of the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl in Cesar Chavez park. The towering sculpture, which was not one of the four intended to balance the Fallon statue, has been widely noted for its resemblance to a snake coiled like excrement, as D.H. Lawrence once wrote of this representation of the Aztec god. Local wags have dubbed the artwork Quetzalpooples. City art officials expect the Fallon statue to be in place by January. The 15-foot-tall sculpture, cast in Italy, portrays Fallon and a companion, both on horseback. Fallon is raising the American flag. Officials are puzzled by the protests over the statue, but they dont expect any delays in its placement. There is nothing new going on here, said Nancy Johnson, San Joses director of conventions, arts and entertainment. I think weve heard all of the various arguments about this already. The city has committed to a public process and a series of new art pieces that will present a balanced perspective, Johnson said. But that wont dispel the opponents, who are convinced the statue should be melted down.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 11:48:17 +0000
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