The Santa Teresa Spring

The Santa Teresa Spring. A reliable source of fresh spring water attracted people to settle here for hundreds of years. The native Ohlone Indians lived here because of the spring’s never-ending flow. A retired Spanish soldier, Jose Joaquin Bernal, settled here and built his rancho to take advantage of the life-giving water in an often drought-ridden country., For the following 150 years, Jose Joaquin’s descendants continually occupied the land adjacent to the Santa Teresa Spring, drawing on its endless supply of fresh water to provide for herds of cattle, hay fields, vineyards, orchards, and family needs., Santa Teresa Spring water sustained family and business through changing times. During the rancho period, Bernal Hacienda adobe buildings (circa 1826) were supplied with spring water using a tile lined water ditch system. Ygnacio Bernal later created a 35,000-gallon reservoir to store water for the family’s farming and orchard operations., This reservoir is also noted as the first man-made swimming pool in the Santa Clara Valley., Inset Image: , Jesusita (Patron) and Ygnacio Bernal , Courtesy San Jose Public Library , California Room, Ygnacio’s son, Pedro, established the lucrative Santa Teresa Spring Water Company around 1910. Jesusita Bernal, Pedro’s mother, served as proprietor of the company, a job rare for a woman at the turn of the century. Spring water was collected, bottled, and sold in downtown San Jose until Pedro’s death in 1935. Newspaper ads in the early 1900s boasted of the spring water’s healing qualities. As late as 1970, water companies offered to purchase Santa Teresa water., Inset Image: , Pedro Bernal