Morgan Hill….The Taste of Morgan Hill, Mushroom Mardi-Gras, July 4th Parade
Morgan Hill, officially the City of Morgan Hill, is a city located in the southern part of Santa Clara County, in Northern California. The city is located in the southernmost portion of Silicon Valley. Morgan Hill is named after an early landowner, Hiram Morgan Hill. The name is often erroneously thought to be the name of the prominent hill on the west side of the valley, which is actually named El Toro. Prior to the city’s founding, the area was known as Rancho Ojo del Agua de la Coche, during the time when the Murphy family owned all the land in the area. When the land came in to Hiram Morgan Hill’s possession, it became known as “Morgan Hill’s Ranch”, which was eventually shortened to “Morgan Hill”. On 10 November 1906, the planned community, a result of the divisions of C. H. Phillips, was incorporated as the Town of Morgan Hill. Hiram Morgan and Diana Hill’s only child, Diana Murphy Hill, married the French nobleman, Baron Hadouin de Reinach-Werth, and thus Baron Hadouin started to help manage Hiram Morgan Hill’s properties between California and Nevada. However, the baron was called back to France to serve in the military and never returned. In 1913, Hiram Morgan Hill died at his Elko estate in Nevada, thus leaving his properties to his daughter. Diana Murphy Hill later remarried, in 1916, to Sir George Rhodes, thus causing the Murphy heiress of the Morgan Hill estate to relocate to the United Kingdom, taking her and Hiram Morgan Hill’s daughter, Diana Murphy Hill, thus finally selling off the Villa Mira Monte and ending the Hill family presence in the community named after them. (Circa: Historic Property Development – Historic Context Statement for the City of Morgan Hill”. Retrieved 2013-10-14.)
