Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States.
In 1851, Martin McCarthy, who had leased the mill, built a toll road down to the Santa Clara Valley and founded what is now Saratoga as McCarthysville.
a woman showed her support for the South by wearing a Confederate flag with the motto "Shall we not protect our cotton?” [10] to a local ball.
[13] Saratoga became agricultural likemuch of the rest of the valley; a few vineyards and orchards from this period remain today.
[14][15] After World War II, the town quickly became urbanized, and it incorporated in 1956 mostly to avoid being annexed by San Jose.
A slogan during the campaign to incorporate the city of Saratoga was "Keep it rural," according to historian Willys I. Peck.
Today the city serves as a bedroom community for upper class Silicon Valley tech workers and executives.
[20] Saratoga is bordered by Cupertino and San Jose to the north, a small portion of Campbell and Los Gatos to the east, and Monte Sereno to the southeast.
[21] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.4 square miles (32 km2), all of it land.
Within its borders, Saratoga includes lush redwood forests, foothills suitable for wine grapes and sunny valley floor once covered with prune and apricot orchards, now with suburban homes, schools and churches.
The Golden Triangle consists mostly of four-bedroom ranch homes (with values ranging from between $1 and $3 million) on quarter acre lots that are gradually being replaced by Mediterranean custom designs.
Northeast of the Golden Triangle is a neighborhood known as Saratoga Woods, a small community located behind Prospect High School north of Cox.
The land of Bellgrove Circle, once used as a vineyard, was previously owned by Paul Masson Winery and is east of Saratoga Avenue and north of Routet 85.
Parker Ranch is a very affluent neighborhood with 1-acre (4,000 m2) minimum lots, west of Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road and up into the hills.
[24] In 2018, data from the American Community Survey revealed that Saratoga was the 8th wealthiest city in the United States.
[32] The other current council members are Kookie Fitzsimmons, Tina Walia and Yan Zhao.
[33] The Saratoga City Council has had to make many controversial decisions in a community with residents known to be protectionist of their existing exclusivity.
[38] The original alignment of Route 85 along Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road was deleted in 1994, when the West Valley Freeway was completed, and it passes through northeast Saratoga.
The original plans for the freeway also included exits at Quito Road and Prospect Avenue, but objections by residents kept those interchanges from being constructed.
The Union Pacific Railroad operates freight through the town, serves the nearby Permanente Quarry, and travels parallel to Route 85.
Passenger trains, including the Peninsular Railway, operated starting in 1908 and delivered commuters to San Francisco in 90 minutes.