CITY OF CAMPBELL by Amazon Stones
Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of 2007 population estimates, Campbell's population is 39,200. Although not a major high-tech city like many of its neighbors, Campbell is the original home of eBay and of its creator, Pierre Omidyar.
Campbell is home to the Pruneyard Shopping Center, a sprawling open-air retail complex which was involved in a famous U.S. Supreme Court case that established the extent of the right to free speech in California. The larger of the associated Pruneyard Towers, built in 1970, was for many years the tallest building between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Today the Pruneyard Shopping Center is home to Democrat Mike Honda and the south bay offices of the FBI.
Points of Interest
In the early 1990s, the Ainsley House, a unique English Tudor-style house built in 1925, was moved from its original site at the corner of Hamilton and Bascom Avenues (the current site of eBay's headquarters) to the downtown quad and furnished with many of the Ainsley family's original furnishings. It has become the centerpiece for the Campbell Historical Museum, which houses additional exhibits in the nearby old firehouse. The Ainsley House was built in the style of English country cottages for John Colpitts Ainsley, a canning pioneer in Santa Clara County, which was at the time known for its vast spreads of fruit orchards.
The Campbell Community Center is located on the northwest corner of Winchester and Campbell Avenues, in the building that used to be Campbell High School, the original school in the Campbell Union High School District. The Redwood Tree, which stands at the corner of Winchester Boulevard and Campbell Avenue was originally planted there on May 11, 1903 by then President, Teddy Roosevelt. The city acquired the property on August 1, 1985, five years after the school shut down. The Heritage Theater, formerly the high school's auditorium, was reopened after renovations in 2004. The Community Center holds classes, and portions are available to be rented for various events.
Campbell for many years had one of the most successful youth baseball programs in the country, reaching 14 World Series from 1960-87.
Campbell’s youth baseball system dates to 1909, when Campbell High School formed its first team and won the Interurban Athletic Union championship. The community’s first non-scholastic youth baseball organization was the Junior Hardball League, which began in 1947. In 1954, Campbell Little League and Campbell Pony League began operation, and Moreland Little League, which is located in west San Jose but historically has served many Campbell residents, started in 1959.
Moreland in 1962 became the only Northern California team to win a Little League World Series, with 6-foot-1, 210-pound Ted Campbell pitching a no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over Kankakee, Ill, in the championship game. Campbell Little League reached the Little League World Series championship game in 1970, 1976 and 1979, becoming one of only two American leagues to go to the LLWS three times in one decade. In all, Campbell-system teams have won six youth baseball World Series and finished second five times. Nine future major leaguers played in the Campbell youth baseball system: Don Hahn, George Tsamis, Steve Davis, Dan Gladden, Doug Capilla, Rich Troedson, Joe Ferguson, John Oldham and Greg Gohr.
“The Last Baseball Town,” a book by Campbell resident Chuck Hildebrand that chronicles the city’s baseball heritage, was published in May 2009.
Campbell was also the site of the 1896 spree-killing by James Dunham.
In 1975, Mayor Rusty Hammer, at 21, became the youngest mayor ever in the United States.
The fruit cocktail was invented in Campbell.
Lars Frederiksen, singer and guitarist for the punk band Rancid, grew up in Campbell and frequently mentions the town in songs by both Rancid and his side project Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards.
