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Part VII
 
1852 - Year's End
1852 was to be the banner year for Santa Clara, marking its incorporation as a town. The following recaps the chronology of events leading to this, the final milestone:
 
1769 Sergeant José Francisco de Ortega, a member of Portolás expedition, discovers San Francisco Bay while out hunting.
1776 The second journey of Juan Bautista de Anza arrives in San Francisco bringing approximately 200 colonists. Among the objectives of this expedition is choosing the site for the establishment of Mission Santa Clara.
1777 Mission Santa Clara de Asís, the eighth California mission, is founded on January 12th on the banks of the Guadalupe River.
1779 The mission is relocated to a second site due to flooding of the river.
1781 The cornerstone for a new church (the Murguía Church) is laid at a third location (today the end of Franklin Street at El Camino Real).
1818 Due to damage caused by earthquakes, Mission Santa Clara is relocated for a fourth time.
1821 The Spanish era ends when Mexico wins its independence from Spain. California becomes a province of Mexico.
1825 The final site for Mission Santa Clara is dedicated (where today Santa Clara University is located).
1836 Mission Santa Clara becomes one of the last missions to undergo secularization. The mission church becomes a parish church and other property is given in land grants and sold.
1843 General John Charles Fremont makes his first expedition to the west.
1844 Mary Bennett and George Bellomy arrive in Santa Clara, having crossed the plains by wagon train to Oregon in 1843 and then on to California.
1845 Fremont's second expedition to California, once more illegally entering the province. He fortifies himself on Gavilan Peak near San Juan Bautista, raises the American flag, but is forced to depart.
1846 The Bear Flag Revolt occurs at Sonoma; a new republic is declared which lasts 26 days. War is declared between Mexico and the United States on May 3rd and the American flag is raised at Monterey on July 7th by Commodore John Sloat. In October, 175 American immigrants (part of the first large overland immigration) arrive at mission Santa Clara to spend the winter.
1847 The Battle of Santa Clara occurs in January. 44 survivors of the Donner Party (originally consisting of 84 immigrants) are rescued from the high Sierras.
1848 Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill on January 24th. (By summer just about every able bodied man in the Santa Clara area, including the mission priest, has gone to seek gold.) On February 2nd, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo terminates the Mexican American War and California is ceded to the United States.
1849 The steamship California arrives in San Francisco Bay with the first party of gold seekers from the Atlantic states. In March the Oregon arrives and by June there are 200 square rigged ships lying in the Bay. On September 1st, a constitutional convention is organized at Monterey and frames a State Constitution, which is signed October 13th. Peter Burnett is elected Governor and San Jose is made the State Capital.
1850 California is admitted to the Union on September 9th as the 31st state. She comes in as a free and sovereign state with her own constitution, governor and legislature, the only state in the Union with this distinction. Santa Clara County becomes the 9th County in the State.
1851 Santa Clara College is established in March at the ex-Mission Santa Clara, opening its doors in May. On July 10th the Methodists establish a college for boys (the University of the Pacific) on the corner of Bellomy Street and Winchester Boulevard. The State Capital is removed to Vallejo.