Morgan Hill lies at the foot of stately El Toro Mountain in southern Santa Clara Valley. Martin Murphy Sr. settled here in 1845, and only a generation later the Murphy family had managed to acquire 70,000 acres. Martin s son Daniel owned over a million acres in the western United States when his only daughter, the beautiful Diana, secretly married Hiram Morgan Hill in 1882. Hiram and Diana inherited part of the original ranch, where they built their lovely Villa Mira Monte. Although the Southern Pacific Railroad tried to name the nearby depot Huntington, passengers always asked to stop at...

Morgan Hill lies at the foot of stately El Toro Mountain in southern Santa Clara Valley. Martin Murphy Sr. settled here in 1845, and only a generation later the Murphy family had managed to acquire 70,000 acres. Martin's son Daniel owned over a million acres in the western United States when his only daughter, the beautiful Diana, secretly married Hiram Morgan Hill in 1882. Hiram and Diana inherited part of the original ranch, where they built their lovely Villa Mira Monte. Although the Southern Pacific Railroad tried to name the nearby depot "Huntington," passengers always asked to stop at...