Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2000 it had a population of 1,682,585. The U.S. Census estimate for 2008 was 1,764,499. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County, is also known as Silicon Valley. It is the most populous county in the Bay Area region.
Santa Clara County was one of the original countie...
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Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2000 it had a population of 1,682,585. The U.S. Census estimate for 2008 was 1,764,499. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County, is also known as Silicon Valley. It is the most populous county in the Bay Area region.
Santa Clara County was one of the original counties of California, formed in 1850 at the time of statehood. The original inhabitants included the Ohlone, residing on Coyote Creek and Calaveras Creek. Part of the county's territory was given to Alameda County in 1853.
The county is named after Mission Santa Clara, which was established in 1777, and named for Saint Clare of Assisi, Italy.
In 1882, Santa Clara County tried to levy taxes upon property of the Southern Pacific Railroad within county boundaries. The result was the U.S. Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific...
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