Cupertino is a suburb about 50 miles south of San Francisco. In the 1800s, Cupertino was a small rural town at the junction of Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road and Stevens Creek Road. Back then, it was known as the West Side and was part of Fremont Township. The main economic activity was fruit growing. Almost all of the land within the current limits of Cupertino was covered by plum, apricot, and cherry orchards.

Only John Doyle’s passion for history gave Cupertino its final name. Doyle, a San Francisco attorney who owned a winery and home on McClellan Road, investigated the De Anza expedition of the 1770s and discovered that he had passed through what is now Cupertino.

Father Font, chronicler and cartographer of the expedition, reports that the area was full of live oaks and that it was “useful for travelers.” Stevens Creek was called “Arroyo de San Joseph Cupertino” by the Spanish in honor of San José de Cupertino. (Joseph grew up in the town of Cupertino on the Apulian peninsula within the Kingdom of Naples).

As a result of his acquaintance, Doyle named his homes and winery Cupertino. His enthusiasm for the name became popular, so when the Home Union Store was incorporated as the Cupertino Union Store in 1904, the post office, located within the store, also changed its designation to Cupertino.

Modern Cupertino, of course, is as famous for its schools as it is for that creative powerhouse: Apple. Cupertino has also grown into a very diverse and wealthy community and is often a favorite destination for families in the Bay Area.