Written By Elizabeth Barrett

Briefly , Gilroy ’ s stature as an auto crossroads came under question when Hollister tried to grab away the glory . It began with one highway project that soon morphed into several more . Before long , Gilroy won out , becoming an easy convergence for the hundreds of new autos taking to the roads .

In 1923 , with the completion of a new Pacheco Pass Highway , the modern road system set a fresh course for Gilroy ’ s place on the road map . The new highway was designed to be a far cry from its days as a once bandit-infested stage route between Visalia and Gilroy . The highway was the start of a newly conceived “ Yosemite-to-the Sea ” road project , a design enthusiastically supported by local Chambers of Commerce along the proposed route . When completed , the streamlined road would take travelers from Merced County all the way to Santa Cruz in one simple connection .

Before Pacheco Pass Highway was finished , getting over to the coast from the Central Valley was a hard day ’ s drive . Motorists heading north from the San Joaquin Valley had to take Altamont Pass through Livermore to get into the Santa Clara Valley . Those heading south took the Cholame Pass to Paso Robles before turning toward the Salinas Valley and finally reaching Gilroy . Either way , it was a long trip . The new Pacheco Pass Highway would enable motorists coming directly from Modesto or Fresno to follow a redesigned route , saving about 88 miles of travel distance .

By the 1920s , highway construction had heralded the start of a new popular fad : auto tourism . Cars by the thousands were expected to flock westward from the Central Valley . The hitch , for awhile , was , which direction to head from there ?

During the final construction phases of the last highway segment from Pacheco Pass , Gilroy boosters cheered for the westbound traffic to head their way , while those in Hollister thought it should be directed through their town instead .

Until the final linkup was completed , travelers passing outside of Hollister were greeted by large billboard announcements set up by local promoters . Motorists were encouraged to divert their route and head

through San Juan Bautista , or better yet , head straight for Hollister . From there , some ads claimed , they could head to the Pinnacles . Neither proposal brought motorists to their planned coastal destination .

Gilroy was not only closer to the coast , an added plus was its position in a direct line south from San Jose , where another highway system was in the early planning stages . Accordingly , Gilroy won its place as the main connector of the Yosemite-tothe Sea route and course connections were planned . By May 1923 , an 18-foot-wide concrete road between Monterey Street and Old Gilroy Road was poured to link with the coming Pacheco Pass highway . The importance of diverting state traffic through Gilroy was addressed by a member of the Coast Highway Association at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in early June of 1925 . He noted that if a minimum expenditure of $ 10 per day could be expected from each carload of tourists passing through town , then 500 cars per day would bring in revenues of $ 5,000 per day when folks stopped for lunch and gas . Therefore , he said , it was time to get on with constructing the rest of the link-up to the coast .

Until then , to reach Watsonville , motorists had to head south from Gilroy ,

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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN MARCH / APRIL 2017 gmhtoday . com