{"nrhp_refnum":"78000776","name":"Forbes Mill Annex","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"CA 17","address_restricted":false,"city":"Los Gatos","county":"Santa Clara County","state":"CA","lat":37.22190900900006,"lon":-121.98067004799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-07-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story rough-hewn stone storage annex in Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, California, built in November 1880 as an addition to the 1852-54 \"Santa Rosa\" Flour Mill, commonly called Forbes Mill.","why_significant":"The annex is the only tangible remains of the original Forbes Mill, which became the nucleus of the town of Los Gatos. It is the last rough-hewn local quartzitic sandstone block structure in Los Gatos and the last 19th century stone flour mill building in Santa Clara County. The form also stresses its industrial role and its association with the area's development.","narrative":"Forbes Mill, as it is commonly called, is actually a two-story stone annex added in November 1880 to a larger flour mill in Los Gatos, California. James Alexander Forbes built the original four-story \"Santa Rosa\" mill in 1852-54, using the waters of Los Gatos Creek for power. W.H. Rogers and Dr. W.S. McMurtry, with his son George, built the annex from locally quarried green quartzitic sandstone, and its south wall incorporates part of the old mill's north wall. The mill itself was torn down between 1915 and 1929, leaving the annex as the only physical remnant. The mill and annex formed the core around which Los Gatos grew, and the town was first called Forbes Mill. Over time the annex served as ice storage, a power company substation, a short-lived naval museum and a youth center. It is valued as the last rough-hewn stone building of its kind in town and as the only link to the community's beginnings.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"W.H. Rogers, W.S. McMurty (McMurtry), and George McMurtry (annex, 1880); original mill by James Alexander Forbes","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Unoccupied and deteriorated; much of the interior wood construction has been destroyed through lack of surveillance, on secluded vacant land.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.324542-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000776.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000776/39d5904a41-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000776/39d5904a41-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"David Sawyer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forbes_Mill.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">David Sawyer</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forbes_Mill.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861673","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5467259"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-clara-county/forbes-mill-annex-78000776/"}