Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Grant Ranch House

Grant Ranch County Park
Santa Clara County
San Jose, CA
Landmark

Joseph D. Grant County Park, the largest of Santa Clara County’s regional park and recreation areas.
This 9,560 acre park includes some of the County”s finest open space resources, as well as rich environmental,
cultural and recreational assets. The landscape is characteristic of the east foothills of the Santa Clara Valley with
grasslands and majestic oak trees.
Joseph D. Grant County Park is located at 18405 Mt. Hamilton Rd., San Jose, CA 95140, in the east of Santa Clara Valley.

Cultural History:
Adam Grant, the father of J.D. Grant, bought his initial holding of Canada de Pala in 1880.
Adam Grant was a founder of Murphy, Grant, & Company, a dry goods store which sold supplies to gold miners.

Grant changed the name of Bernal Lagoon to Grant Lake, built dams and diverted streams.
He remodeled the original house which was built in 1882, and added a cookhouse, servants quarters,
other houses and buildings, a rose garden and a large aviary to the property.

J.D. also used his influence to have Mount Hamilton Road moved one-half mile northeast of his
home so it would not interfere with his privacy. Entertainments on the ranch included swimming
in the pool and horseback riding through the rambling hills.

In addition to managing his father’s dry goods business, J. D. Grant founded the Columbia Steam Company,
served as President of the California-Oregon Power Company, and served on the Board of Directors of the
General Petroleum Company and the Central Pacific Railroad.

Grant owned mansions in San Francisco, Burlingame, and Pebble Beach.
He was a member of the Bohemian Club and was a life trustee of Stanford University.
Grant also belonged to the Sierra Club, and was president of the Save-the-Redwoods League for 21 years.

When Joseph D. Grant stayed at his ranch, he entertained guests such as Leland Stanford and Herbert Hoover.
Hoover stayed at the ranch for a month after his election loss to Franklin Roosevelt.

Joseph D. Grant died in 1942, and was followed in death by his wife, Edith, in 1946.
After her parents’ death, their daughter, Josephine, purchased shares in the ranch from her two
siblings and became sole owner of the property.
Josephine became a full time resident of the ranch in 1958 and
remained at the ranch until her death in 1972.

Josephine Grant’s will deeded half of the ranch property to
the Save-the-Redwoods League and the other half to
the Menninger Foundation. The property was purchased by
Santa Clara County in 1975 to be preserved as a park.
In 1978, Joseph D. Grant County Park, named after the
man and his family who had owned the property for nearly 100 years, opened to the public.
~Santa Clara County Parks and Rec