The Casa Pacheco Foundation

Jack English

The Casa Pacheco Foundation formed to contribute to the preservation of the home of the Francisco Pacheco family in Monterey, which dates to the last years of the Mexican rule of California. Preserving the history of the Pacheco Family and the subsequent occupants is as much a part of the role of the Foundation as is the preservation of the physical buildings. Our Club has owned the Casa Pacheco for a total 68 of the 185 years of its existence. In all probability, little attention was given by our founding members to the long term needs of preservation, but rather the short term needs of saving the building from tear down to make it suitable for use as a social and athletic club.

History

Don Pacheco

Pacheco, as a Mexican National, was neither a supporter of the move to American administration, nor a supporter of the Mexican cause. His opinions straddled the differing opinions as he became a voice of reason in such debates. 

After the separation following the Mexican American War in 1846, he became a natural leader in local politics. Having received several large land grants during the Mexican period, including the Pacheco Pass to the central valley north of Hollister, the family spent their time on these Ranchos raising cattle and horses. Francisco returned often to Monterey for business and political activities. The Monterey Casa afforded a place for business and social activities befitting his stature in the community.

Changes in Monterey

In the 1950s there was a general decline of Monterey as an industrial city centered on fishing and the canneries and the multicultural basis of the working citizens. The loss of the canneries in the early 1950s came about at the time the  Pacheco Club was formed at the depth of the local economy. At this time and shortly after a wave of sympathy for urban renewal was sweeping through major cities across the country. Congress had passed the Fair Housing Act of 1949, with following amendments they created funding for urban renewal. Our own Monterey urban renewal agency was created in late 1957, only months after our Club purchased the Pacheco Adobe. Much of this history comes from the book by John Walton, Storied Land, Community and Memory in Monterey. 

Urban renewal was not without controversy. The first version of the Monterey urban renewal agency focused on the downtown area at the foot of Alvarado Street, Pacific Street and Old Fisherman's Warf. Planners envisioned a large convention hotel with adjacent large shopping mall anchored by a major department store and a multi story parking garage. A major financial partner was found in Philadelphia; the entire project was seen as a single development. The redevelopment agency created divisions in the community, the existing planning commission and within city council. Multiple factions arose within the community. The various factions can roughly be divided by their mutual interests. The first was the development interests. Although disagreeing within themselves, their common interest was economic opportunity, drawing a new visitor presence in the downtown area as a destination location.

The second interest was the Monterey History and Art Association whose concern was the preservation of the historic adobes and the buildings of the Mexican and early American period. They imagined creating a historic Monterey that never was. The third faction consisted of the families who would lose their homes, their businesses and their cultural way of life. During the planning and contracting process, the major developer in Philadelphia died. His heirs were not interested in the project.

Our Pacheco Club was never directly involved but we can just imagine the conversations that took place over lunch as many of the members had direct interests in these projects.