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Fairview Road (former Legislative Route Number 22 and California State Route 25)

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Fairview Road of San Benito County is an approximately 10-mile roadway located in Santa Clara Valley near Hollister.  Fairview Road begins at California State Route 25 (Airline Highway) near the Hollister city limit and extends north/northwest to San Felipe Road near Dunneville.  

Fairview Road is named after the Fairview School which was once located along the corridor.  Historically Fairview Road connected both Tres Pinos and Hollister to the Pacheco Pass Highway.  A portion of Fairview Road north of Fallon Road would carry Legislative Route Number 22 for a short time during the 1920s.  From 1934-1947 early California State Route 25 near Hollister was carried by Fairview Road south of Sunnyslope Road.  In 1947 southern Fairview Road was bypassed when the former Tres Pinos Branch Railroad was graded as part an extension of the Airline Highway. 




Part 1; the history of Fairview Road

Fairview Road flanks the southern extent of Santa Clara Valley just below the Diablo Range.  Historically Fairview Road was part of the stage routes connecting Tres Pinos and Hollister to the Pacheco Pass Highway. 

An established trail over Pacheco Pass had been use by the local Yokut Tribes long before the arrival of Europeans to California.  The first documented European crossing of Pacheco Pass was made in 1805 by a party led by Spanish Army Officer Gabriel Moraga.

During the American period Andrew Firebaugh constructed a tolled stage road across Pacheco Pass to Bell Station.  Firebaugh's toll road was completed by 1857 and was part of the Butterfield Overland Mail route between 1858-1861.  A primitive path over Pacheco Pass to Gilroy can be seen on the 1857 Britton & Rey's Map of California.

San Benito County would split from Monterey County on February 14, 1874, largely due to the success of the New Idria Mercury Mine.  The town site of Hollister was plotted in 1868 which spurred growth southward along course of the San Benito River.  By 1873 the Southern Pacific Railroad would construct a spur line to Tres Pinos which served as a stage road head to New Idria via Paicines and Panoche Pass.

Fairview Road would serve as part of the stage corridors to Pacheco Pass from both Hollister and Tres Pinos.  In 1879 Santa Clara County and Merced County purchased the Pacheco Pass Toll Road, rebuilt it on a new grade and made it a public highway.  

Fairview Road is shown in detail on the 1919 United States Geological Survey map of Hollister.  Fairview Road is shown to branch north of the Tres Pinos Branch Railroad near the Enterprise School southeast of Hollister.

On the 1919 era map north of Hollister the Fairview School can be seen at the intersection of Fairview Road and Rosa Morada Road.  The Hollister stage road towards Pacheco Pass consolidated with Fairview Road along what is now Fallon Road.  The Fairview School is the namesake for the Fairview Road corridor. 

The 1919 era map displays Fairview Road intersecting Pacheco Pass Highway at Pacheco Creek.  Fairview Road is shown continuing a short distance northwest to Dunneville at San Felipe Road near San Felipe Lake.  


During 1919 the Third State Highway Bond Act extended Legislative Route Number 22 east of Hollister to the Pacheco Pass Highway (Legislative Route Number 32).  The State Highway corridor initially followed San Felipe Road, Fallon Road and Fairview Road to the Pacheco Creek Road.  

By the early 1920s an extension of the Pacheco Creek Road west built as a component of Legislative Route Number 22 westward to connect directly with San Felipe Road.  This new routing bypassed Fallon Road and Fairview Road which reverted to San Benito County highway inventory. 

Fairview Road south of Sunnyslope Road would reenter the State Highway System in 1933 when Legislative Route Number 119 commissioned between Legislative Route Number 10 in Priest Valley and US Route 101 (Legislative Route Number 2) near Gilroy.  Legislative Route Number 119 would be commissioned as California State Route 25 by August 1934.  

California State Route 25 can be seen passing through Hollister via Briggs Road, Wright Road, San Felipe Road (Legislative Route Number 22), San Benito Street, Nash Road, Sunnyslope Road and Fairview Road on the 1935 Division of Highways map of San Benito County.  Fairview Road north of Sunnyslope Road to San Felipe Road is shown to be locally maintained.  Legislative Route Number 22 east of US Route 101 would be signed as California State Route 156 by 1938.


Fairview Road southeast of Hollister can be seen as part of California State Route 25 on the 1940 United States Geological Survey map. 


During March 1942 the Tres Pinos Branch Railroad south of Hollister was abandoned.  The March/April 1947 California Highways & Public Works announced that 2.6 miles of the railroad grade would be repurposed as part of California State Route 25.  This project zone extended the Airline Highway northwest from Fairview Road to Sunnyslope Road.  Upon being completed Fairview Road was again removed from the State Highway System.  


The extension of Airline Highway bypassing Fairview Road can be seen on as the then new alignment of California State Route 25 on the 1948 Division of Highways map. 




Part 2; a drive on Fairview Road

Northbound Fairview Road begins at California State Route 25 (Airline Highway) southeast of the Hollister city limit.  


The former portion of Fairview Road which carried California State Route 25 branches from Airline Highway to Sunnyslope Road.  




The western flank of Fairview Road north to Hillcrest Road skirts juts in the Hollister city limits.  Much of Fairview Road is being overtaken by residential sprawl. 


Fairview Road continues north and picks up the former alignment of Legislative Route Number 22 at Fallon Road.  







Fairview Road carries the former alignment of Legislative Route Number 22 north to modern California State Route 156.  Beyond California State Route 156 the corridor of Fairview Road continues a short distance to San Felipe Road.






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