River Street Historic District, Bounded by West Saint James Street, West Santa Clara Street, Pleasant Street, & Guadalupe River, San Jose, Santa Clara County, CA

Significance: The period of significance of the River Street Historic District is 1875-1925. At this time, the area was a working class neighborhood inhabited mostly by newly arrived Italian immigrants. The district also includes a remarkably diverse group of late nineteenth and early twentieth century building types. The architectural detail reflects the domestic choices made by the Italian population and the creativity achieved with relatively limited finances. The district is currently populated mostly by Hispanics, and continues to function much as it did in the past when it was inhabited mostly by the Italians. The cutoff date of 1925 was selected as a watershed between two generations of inhabitants. The proportion of Italian immigrants peaked in 1925, and began to dwindle shortly thereafter. This population decline was due to the deaths of the older immigrants and the relocation to other areas of the city. Mikesell also attributes the decline to an unnamed 1924 immigration law which successfully restricted immigration into the United States, especially from Southern Europe. The district is remarkable unchanged since its period of significance and clearly illustrates the physical layout of such a community. It is a very rare intact working class community in San Jose.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N272
Survey number: HABS CA-2355