Michael S. Malone: How Sunnyvale Changed the World

For the Speaker Night on June 10, Mike Malone, local tech historian and friend of the Sunnyvale Historical Society, presented an overview of Silicon Valley and Sunnyvale’s role in the technology revolution which shaped today’s Santa Clara Valley. Malone stressed that the entrepreneurial spirit that served as seed-corn for the rapid growth of technology in the region was at work long before the year 1950, contrary to common perceptions. And Sunnyvale happens to be at the geographical and intellectual center of it all, today!

The early 1950s marked the obvious turning point for Sunnyvale – the era when fertile orchard land noticeably turned into asphalt and concrete. But Malone went further back into the past and suggested that the Martin Murphy family set the tone for the city of Sunnyvale’s pioneering/entrepreneurial spirit as part of the first wagon train to successfully make the westward journey across the Sierra Nevada – in the winter of 1844/45 – two years prior to the ill-fated Donner party! Murphy soon became a well-connected landowner of giant proportions in this valley and over a significant portion of California. Murphy and his family settled here, where he came to be regarded as Sunnyvale’s founder and the inspiration for downtown’s Murphy Avenue!

As a related theme, Walter Crossman in the early 1900s subdivided the land that would become the heart of Sunnyvale, selling the small lots at a fine profit – an early entrepreneur/developer! Albert Bessey invented and manufactured an advanced chicken incubator for the still-agrarian region and his son Arthur turned to manufacturing fine, early radios in a Sunnyvale factory called “The Radio Shop.” The Heritage Park Museum has fine examples on display of those radios from the 1925 era.

Lockheed Missiles and Space came to Sunnyvale in the mid-50s bringing with it, not only an already-educated work-force, but a voracious future demand for same. It was fun to hear of the two Steves, Jobs and Wozniak, walking down Fremont Avenue to Westmoor Plaza in order to buy electronic parts at Owen Wetzel’s hobby shop prior to their imminent, historic announcement of the Apple I computer. That former electronics storefront is currently the Hallmark store at the corner of Fremont and Mary avenues.

When the full story of Silicon Valley is told, clearly the most important element was/is the continued influence of Stanford University and its early Dean of Engineering, Fred Terman. Terman was an anomaly: a rare combination of top-tier educator, businessman, and entrepreneur. He is “The Father of Silicon Valley.” I bought a copy of Malone’s book that evening titled The Big Score, a vehicle he uses to tell the larger story of Stanford’s influence, and that of Hewlett/Packard, the Varian brothers, Fairchild and Noyce, Apple Computer, etc. – all peppered with an insider’s unique knowledge and perspective. Good, easy, and fascinating reading, signed copies are available for purchase in the Museum Store.

By Alan Kubitz