Virtual in Proximity project made possible in part by a grant from the County of Santa Clara’s Historic Grant Program.
Welcome to PAC*SJ’s Virtual in Proximity (ViP) tour of the historic Temple Laundry/IBM buildings in San Jose, California.
Welcome to PAC*SJ’s ViP tour of three buildings used by four different occupants over the past century including a labor movement inspired Temple Laundry starting in 1918, the US Army after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, New York based IBM’s for its first west coast manufacturing plant in 1943 and eventually San Jose Hospital which grew all around these buildings starting in 1923.
You will see how the use of punch cards automated everything from material looms in the early 1800’s to record keeping and tabulation starting with the 1890 U.S. Census, and how this drove demand for a massive number of punch cards by businesses and governments. IBM's decision to build a punch card plant in these buildings contributed heavily to the company’s decision to seed its first west coast research facility in downtown San Jose. It was at that facility that IBM's young engineers tackled the issue of how to better access and use massive amounts of data that lead to the creation of the world’s first random access hard disc drive.
This all transpired in a place covered with fruit trees, once described as the Valley of the Heart's Delight by John Muir, as it was transforming into what is now widely known as Silicon Valley.
After enjoying the Virtual Tour, we encourage you to
CLICK HERE and take a quick quiz to test your knowledge.
Bibliography Key Documents
IBM San Jose “A Quarter Century of Innovation”
Author: David W. Kean c 1977
The Story of the IBM Card
The IBM Card – Technique of Development and Manufacture
Prepared for: IBM Dept. of Ed., Div. of General & Vocational Ed., Endicott, NY
Prepared by: J.P. Saxton
Sept. 16, 1946
Written & Descriptive Data Architectural Photographs
San Jose Medical Center Building 800 – IBM Punch-Card Plant #4
Prepared for: County of Santa Clara
Prepared by: Archives & Architecture, LLC
Franklin Maggi, Architectural Historian
December, 2011
San Jose Hospital – Historic Resource Evaluation Report
Descriptions of San Jose Hospital & Associated IBM Building
Prepared for: David J. Powers & Associates & the City of San Jose
Prepared by: Carey & Co, Inc.
June 30, 2008
DPR 523A Update
Resource Name: Temple Laundry/IBM Building
Other Identifier: 800 Building (San Jose Hospital)
Prepared for: City of San Jose
Prepared by: Evans & De Shazo, Inc.
Author: Stacey De Shazo
June 8, 2022
Preservation Action Council of San Jose
Continuity Magazine Contributed Article:
San Jose Unions, 8-Hour Day and Temple Laundry
Author: April Halberstadt
Fall, 2019 Edition
Clyde Arbuckle’s History of San Jose
Smith & McKay Printing Company
1985
Historic Research Contacts
Max Campbell (Reference Desk)
IBM Corporate Archives
2455 South Rd
Bldg 04-02 Room CSC12
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Jamie Martin
IBM Corporate Archivist
International Business Machines
Cate Mills (Curator of Library & Archives)
History San Jose
1650 Senter Road
San Jose, CA 95112
Franklin Maggi (Architectural Historian)
Archives and Architecture
PO Box 1332
San Jose, CA 95109
Stacey De Shazo
Evans & De Shazo, Inc.
1141 Gravenstein Highway 5
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Carey & Company, Inc. (Now Traenor – See below)
460 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Note: Merged w/ Treanor in 2016
Traenor
351 California Street, Ste. 800
San Francisco, CA 94104
Principal: Kimberly Butt
Computer History Museum Contacts
Dag Spicer
Chief Curato
Curtis A. Jones
Ret. IBM
Dave S. Bennet
Ret. IBM
John Best
Ret. IBM
Robert Garner
Ret. IBM
