. . . the town of Pacheco had been hit with numerous disasters in the 1860s: an earthquake, several fires and floods, and its main raison d’etre, Pacheco Slough, filled with silt and therefore ruined for navigation: Three men, who can truly be described as nice guys, came along and donated land to the beleaguered Pacheco people in a new town a few miles to the east. The three men were Salvio Pacheco, his son Fernando, and his son-in-law Francisco Galindo. The town they started was originally called Todos Santos (All Saints), and was nicknamed Drunken Indian by some irreverent American settlers, but soon after was renamed Concord, a name. which stuck.
Among the first of the Pacheco refugees to take advantage of the offer of free land, in June 1869, was Samuel Bacon whose store is the first one on the left in this early photograph About the same time Charles S. Lose put a machine shop across the street from Bacon’s store, while John Brawand and George Gavin built themselves homes in the new town. The photograph shows, in addition to Bacon’s store, most of the businesses intersection of Galindo Street, not too many years after the town was started. There were several general stores a hotel, and many saloons on this street. If you look closely you can see about two dozen people, including children, in this picture, standing on the wooden sidewalks and dirt street. They had waited patiently while the photographer made all his adjustments and then finally recorded their images on a glass negative to be saved for posterity. In addition to the buildings shown here there were two blacksmith shops in the town, one just behind the photographer on the other side of Galindo Street and the other two blocks away to the east and a block south. Historic preservation was not thought of in Concord’s early years. Neither of the blacksmith shops and not a one of the buildings in this picture still stands.
Cowell Historical Society 
You must be logged in to post a comment.