The Johnston House of Half Moon Bay

The mountains formed a barrier for the Half Moon Bay area that offered protection to any settlers in the area. Isolation was what some Spanish settlers wanted, although life was lonely and centered primarily on family. This isolation lasted until after the 1840s when San Francisco was deluged with miners from around the world in their quest of gold. The population in San Francisco swelled until housing and food needs created an opportunity for farmers and loggers along this isolated area.

One of the first to see opportunity here was James Johnston. After making money in the gold fields, James returned to San Francisco and acquired an interest in a saloon and began speculating in real estate. Real estate was a booming market in San Francisco and James was making enough money while in the business to acquire 1,162 acres for $14,000 of the Rancho Miramontes, south of Spanishtown (San Benito), now called Half Moon Bay. James had married a Spanish woman, Petra de Jara in 1852 and now wanted to settle down. He needed help though.

He had three brothers living back in Ohio and he was able to convince them to move to California. First he needed cattle for his ranch. The brothers acquired eight hundred cows and began the trek west driving this herd of cattle, the first American cattle introduced into California.

The trip was long, arduous and dangerous, but the men succeeded in getting most of the cattle alive to James’s ranch. Although many of the calves were eaten by bears during the first winter, enough survived to begin the vast herd that was needed to supply meat and dairy products to the San Francisco markets.

When people immigrate to a new country, they usually carry in their heads a dream or a model of success. James was no different. In Gallipolis, Ohio, for example, he had become familiar with a style of architecture called a "salt box” house that was simple in design yet able to be added on to when the family increased.

The two-story house was made of wood brought to the area in boats, the lumber thrown into the ocean and allowed to float to shore where it was retrieved and taken to the hill where the house was being built. The front of the building was two stories high with nine windows for light. The unique structure of the roof of the house extended down to the first floor ceiling at the back of the structure creating a "lean to” appearance.

This large structure became a showpiece in the area, an elegantly furnished Victorian parlor where tea could be served in style. Servants walked on carpeted floors while serving family meals on rosewood tables. A small chapel was installed within the house. A cook house for the ranch hands was separate from the main house.

James family totaled four eventually and the house became a center for meetings of the community where Spanish members still outnumbered the American population. All went well for the Johnston family, James prospered, but disaster was just around the corner for the family. Their only daughter died, and a short time later just as the family was recovering from this, his wife, Petra, died in 1861.

Petra’s mother, Ursula or "Melita,” took over the household duties, but it was not enough to ward off the financial disaster in 1877 of a threatened foreclosure of the ranch by the bank. Desperate, James sold much of the ranch and clung to possession of the house and a little of the land.

James sister, Isabel, had arrived from Ohio to help raise the boys, and James returned to San Francisco to make a living. He died one evening at the Commercial Hotel in 1879.

The once beautiful house that had come to be called the "White House” eventually deteriorated in the salt-air of the ocean breeze until it was almost in ruins. The Spanishtown Historical Society and the city of Half Moon Bay acquired it and began restoring it in 1972. To facilitate restoration, the Johnston House Foundation was established to help reclaim the house and maintain it for the public to see what the Johnston family lives were like in the 1800s. The San Mateo County Historical Association aids in furnishing docents for programs at the Johnston House. For additional information contact the San Mateo County History Museum at (650) 299-0104 for more information.