San Benito County History

This section is excerpted from A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California by Henry D. Barrows and Luther A. Ingersoll, and published by The Lewis Publishing Company in 1893.

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The San Justo Homestead Association,

consisting of fifty members, held its first meeting October 10, 1868, at which S. S. Swope was elected president, W. H. Briggs secretary, and J. M. Brown, treasurer. This association bought the San Justo ranch of Colonel Hollister for $400,000; but when on survey there was less land than had been estimated a deduction of $30,000 was made, and the actual amount paid was $370,000, of which $100,000 was paid down, and the balance on time.

The land, or a portion of it, including the present town site of Hollister, was divided into tracts of 172 acres each, and, on the 19th of November, 1868, the choice of tracts was sold at auction, T. S. Hawkins (now president of the Bank of Hollister) purchasing the first choice, paying therefore $4,500. The aggregate amount realized from the "sale of choice" of these fifty tracts for premiums alone was $87,352. The town of Hollister was laid off the same day, November 19. It had been decided at first to locate the town about two miles northeast of its present site, and keep the latter as the Hollister homestead, but finally the present site was fixed on and named.

During the month of December, $3,600 worth of town lots were sold, and the town commenced to grow rapidly. Its population in 1880, by the federal census, was about 1,000, and in 1890, 1,234. At present, 1892, the school census indicates that it must be double that number.

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This section is excerpted from A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California by Henry D. Barrows and Luther A. Ingersoll, and published by The Lewis Publishing Company in 1893.