The first inhabitants to what later would be called Santa Clara County were the Ohlone Indians. In the late 1700's, the Spanish arrived establishing the Mission Santa Clara. This building was being built by members of the Ohlone tribe who converted to Christianity. Agriculture and labor became the story of Sunnyvale’s history. By the 1800’s, the Chinese began to arrive and began to work the farmlands. The painful history of Sunnyvale involves the Chinese being painfully and legally driven out of the farmlands resulting in the Chinese Execution Act. This left very few Chinese in Sunnyvale.

A variety of immigrants from all over the world flooded into Sunnyvale making it a diverse and cultural community. After the start of World War II, Sunnyvale began to evolve. Its popularity in technology and manufacturing grew and is still growing even today. The Silicon Valley became a place where the defense industry and the Navy began making weaponry. It took over the agriculture industry.

Silicon Valley and Sunnyvale history today is written by workers who continue to work in these industries and provide for the economy and work towards the growth of the community. However, memories of the history of Sunnyvale can be found in the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum.

The Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum is full of rich history with exhibits that highlight the founding families of the city of Sunnyvale. One family in particular were the Murphy’s, one of the predominate families of Sunnyvale and were among the first to settle in the Santa Clara Valley. They even predated the Donner family. In fact the museum is designed to look exactly like the Murphy home. The original Murphy home was built in Maine. It was later taken apart, and then shipped through San Francisco where it was later built in Sunnyvale.

Since the Murphy family had donated land extending the railroad, the town was named after them being called Murphy Station, before later being changed to Sunnyvale. However, a fire destroyed the home in 1961, thus bringing in the Central Expressway.

In 1881 Mr. and Mrs. Murphy celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary which led to the biggest party California had ever seen. Over 10,000 people celebrated at the Murphy home, pretty impressive for a home with no indoor bathrooms. However, today’s Murphy house is fully equipped with bathrooms, so you don’t have to worry when you visit. Also, while visiting, you’ll get to see full recreations of the rooms including the family parlor, dining room, pantry and bedrooms. All the rooms include a variety of the original furnishings from that period.

There are other exhibits that include artifacts from Sunnyvale such as the agricultural past and the technological present. The crown jewel of the museum is the mural that surrounds an entire room. This gives visitors a panoramic view of the history of Sunnyvale. They can see the Native American inhabitants, early apricot farmers, and the transformation of the Silicon Valley. If you’re a history buff and you’re wanting to take a step back in time the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum is great place to take a look back into the history of Sunnyvale.