Cowell Lime Works - History

History

The lime works was originally developed, in the early 1850s, by partners Isaac E. Davis and Albion P. Jordan. Two of the thousands drawn to California by the discovery of gold, both arrived in San Francisco in 1849. They met during the next couple of years, and concluded that lime manufacturing offered more opportunities than gold mining. The rapid population growth in northern California at this time greatly increased demand for lime, used to make mortar for the new brick buildings.

The partners came to Santa Cruz around 1853, where they found an abundance of high-quality limestone and proximity to shipping facilities. The firm of Davis and Jordan leased some of the future Cowell ranch property, began quarrying operations, built lime kilns, a cooperage, ranch house, and other structures, and began shipping lime in late 1853. They built a new road (present day Bay Street) between the kilns and the wharf, which descended to Monterey Bay from the bluffs near the famous Santa Cruz surf spot known as Steamer Lane. Their success soon allowed them to buy the lime works land and the wharf they used for shipping. In 1856, they built a new longer wharf and a second ship. About this time, Davis moved to San Francisco, where the company established a sales office and warehouse facilities. Jordan stayed in Santa Cruz to oversee that end of the business.

In the next decade, Jordan’s health began to decline, and he sold his half of the company to Henry Cowell in 1865. With the firm renamed Davis and Cowell, Henry Cowell and his family moved to Santa Cruz, where he took over Jordan’s former duties. After Davis died in 1888, Cowell acquired full ownership of the company, and it became Henry Cowell and Co. Operations and land acquisitions continued to expand over the next twenty years; encompassing expanded lime production, cattle and milk cows, bituminous rock mining, tan oak bark (used in leather tanning), grain and fruit. In 1898, the company incorporated as the Henry Cowell Lime and Cement Company. The transition to Portland cement, which could be used to manufacture mortar superior to lime-based mortar, began the decline of the lime industry after the start of the 20th century. Henry Cowell’s son Harry finally shut down the Bay Street kilns in about 1920.

By the time UC Santa Cruz opened in 1965, many of the mostly wooden lime works structures had been unoccupied for over twenty years and were in poor condition. The ranch buildings were in better shape, having been used into the 1950s. The university began to renovate some of these and adapt them for campus uses. A horse barn became the Barn Theater in 1968; the cookhouse became the admissions office; the blacksmith shop became an art studio, the ranch house (Cardiff House) houses the university's Women's Center, and so on.