Monta Loma is a neighborhood in Mountain View,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. Located between the bounds of San Antonio Road, Middlefield Road, Rengstorff Avenue and Central Expressway. This was the location of an

Ohlone The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the l ...

village and the Castro Indian Mound, one the largest shell mounds in the

. After World War II, there was a housing boom, and this neighborhood's current housing was formed.

History

Ohlone village and Castro Indian Mound

The first inhabits were the

Native Americans and the land from the current corner of Central Expressway and San Antonio Road was the Castro Indian Mound, also known as Indian Hill, Castro Shell Mound, and Secondino Robles. The mound measured 400 feet long, by 300 feet wide, and 10 feet high. In 1893,

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

professors began to "investigate" the

shell mound A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occup ...

to better understand local Ohlone Native American customs. They discovered this was not only a place to dump cooking

refuse Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste product may beco ...

but also a Native American burial ground. The Castro Indian Mound showed evidence of

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

and it's thought these cremations were only held for the social elite. The archeologists found a wide variety of items in the mound, including many oyster shells, fishing spears, pestles,

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

s, and among others. Radio carbon dating puts the origin of the Castro Mound around 1460 ± 100 B.C. In 1947, the mound was leveled and demolished to sell it as

topsoil Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs. Description Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic mat ...

for gardening. In 1989, Stanford University surrendered the collected artifacts and remains from the Castro Shell Mound to their descendants, this includes the remains of 550 Ohlone people.

Post-World War II

The homes were built during the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

housing boom, mostly California-style mid-century modern homes by

Joseph Eichler Joseph Leopold Eichler (June 25, 1900 – July 1, 1974) was a 20th-century post-war American real estate developer known for developing distinctive residential Subdivision (land), subdivisions of mid-century modern style tract housing in Califo ...

, John Calder Mackay, and Mardell Building Company. Originally the neighborhood was named by each developer as they created sections, named "Oakwood" by Eichler, as well as "Fairview" by Eichler and "Mardell Manor" by Mardell Building Company. From 1959 until 1967, a young

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...

and his family lived on Diablo Avenue in Monta Loma and he attended the local elementary school. The neighborhood has one of the best preserved tracts of Mackay homes.

Monta Loma Neighborhood Association

The Monta Loma Neighborhood Association (MLNA) was founded in 1977 and originally served as a "beautification committee". The MLNA hosts several annual neighborhood events, and serves to encourage dialog between the Mountain View city government and the neighbors.

References

External links

Monta Loma Neighborhood Association (MLNA)
website {{Mountain View, California Mountain View, California Costanoan populated places