Community Corner
Los Gatos History: Conrad and Marie Frank
The Frank family owned a ranch of almost 60 acres in what is now the Chemeketa Park residential area, above the old turnpike road.
Conrad and Marie Frank are pictured in this photo with their children, Estella and Edward (1882-1954), in the 1890s.
The Frank family owned a ranch of almost 60 acres in what is now the Chemeketa Park residential area, above the old turnpike road.
The old Santa Cruz Highway and Highway 17 took some of the Franks' land.
Conrad was a sea captain who started in the German Merchant Marine.
He came to the West Coast on a lumber schooner and decided to settle in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
There were grapes on the land when Conrad bought it and when root disease killed most of the grapes in the German colony, Conrad planted French prunes.
Conrad and Marie Frank were the grandparents of Bruce Franks.
It was Bruce's father, Edward, who added the "s" at the end of the family name.
Source: Hooked on Los Gatos, the Library and Museum History Project
Courtesy the Bruce Franks Collection
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