Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOSEPH TERRILL BROOKS
It has been truthfully said that Hotel Vendome,
of San Jose, has come to be a most desirable place, aside from the
consideration of the attractions which surround it. It is located in the midst
of the Garden City in a park of elms, pines, redwoods and other trees, a
magnificent building with an annex erected as recently as 1902, when at the
close of that season the work of improvement and enlargement was taken up by the
management. It is now most thoroughly equipped and homelike, as well as
luxurious in all its appointments, with wide verandas, a welcoming rotunda and
assembly hall, old-fashioned fireplaces, wide corridors, reading rooms,
billiard parlors and elegantly furnished apartments and guest rooms,
principally en suite, with all modern conveniences. The table is supplied with
every seasonable delicacy and is perfect in all its appointments and service.
With the annex, which is a large three-story building, containing thirty-six
rooms, each with private bath, hot and cold water, private telephone and all
conveniences, the hotel will now accommodate in comfort fully three hundred and
fifty people. Of the attractions within the reach of the guests of the hotel
may be mentioned Mount Hamilton, upon which is located the famous Lick Observatory
the mountain road which leads to it being one unsurpassed in beauty. Bowling,
bathing and golf furnish physical exercise while the atmosphere of the location
is in itself health-restoring and delightful. On the road to Mount Hamilton is
located Hotel Santa Ysabel, which is under the same
management as Hotel Vendome, and is a great accessory to the comfort of
travelers when making the trip to the Observatory.
The manager of Hotel Vendome, J. T.
Brooks, is one of San Jose’s most enterprising citizens. He was born in St.
Louis, Mo., February 22, 1865, a son of Johnston Brooks, a native of Ireland,
of Scotch and English descent. Johnston Brooks came to America on a three
months’ trip, and from New Orleans came up the river to St. Louis, then the
outfitting point for the remote west. He there engaged in a general contracting
business for many years, making that his home until his death. At the breaking
out of the Civil war he endeavored to enlist in the Federal army, but was
rejected on account of being too advanced in years. His wife was in maidenhood
Susanna Briggs, a native of Greenville, Ill., and the daughter of Kendall
Briggs, who was a descendant of Moss Briggs, whose sister was the wife of a
prominent banker of St. Louis, Mo. Mrs. Brooks now resides in Greenville, Ill.,
the mother of four living children.
J. T. Brooks was the youngest in his
father’s family and the only one now located on the coast. He was reared in St.
Louis and received his education in the public schools of that city, and also
attended the high school. In youth he learned the trade of a printer, but while
still a boy accepted a position as correspondent for the firm of J. H. Chambers
& Co., of St. Louis, at the age of nineteen being sent to Chicago to take
charge of their business in that city. He remained there one year, when he
returned to their headquarters in St. Louis, and a little later had charge of
their office in Atlanta, Ga., the business of which he settled up and returned
again to St. Louis. This firm published different medical works and standard
journals. While engaged with them Mr. Brooks was one of the incorporators of
the Dios Chemical Company, manufacturing chemists, and was a director until he sold
out. Tiring of the indoor life which he was of necessity compelled to lead, he
withdrew from all his business relations in the middle west,
and in 1889 came to California. He located first in Los Angeles, from which
city he went to Santa Cruz, in the latter location holding the office of chief
clerk in the Sea Beach Hotel for some years, and for the last three years of
his residence there serving in the capacity of manager. Under his management it
became the leading hotel of the city, as well as one of the leading tourist
hotels of the state. In 1898 he went with the F. A. Hihn
Company and became the representative of the owners of the Pacific Ocean House.
In November of the same year he came to San Jose and accepted the position of
room clerk in the Hotel Vendome, which was then under the management of George
P. Snell, now the manager of Hotel Del Monte. Three months later he became
chief clerk, and upon the resignation of Mr. Snell, who recommended him for the
position, he was appointed to fill the vacancy, this occurring in November,
1903. It is unnecessary to speak of the services of Mr. Brooks in view of the
present condition of the hotel, its improvement and enlargement, the successful
management of its ninety employes, (sic) and the
comfort and happiness of its many guests. He has made many friends since
assuming this position, won not only by his evident ability in this line of
work, but by his personality, which reflects a character of pleasing traits.
In Oakland Mr. Books was united in
marriage with Estelle Ede, a graduate of the University of Nevada. She was a
native of that state, having been born at Reno, and in young womanhood taught
for five years in her Alma Mater. They
are now the parents of two children, Philip and Alice. In his political
convictions Mr. Brooks is a stanch Republican. He is a member of the Chamber of
Commerce and belongs to its board of managers. Fraternally he was made a Mason
in Santa Cruz Lodge No. 38, where he also attained the Royal Arch degree; he
belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, also of that city; the
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, of San Jose; the Order of the Eastern Star
and the Rebekahs.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1276-1277. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.