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Monte Sereno History

Monte Sereno at 40

By Clarence Cromwell

Four decades after its formation, Monte Sereno is still one of the tiniest cities in the state, with less than 10 employees and only about 3,500 residents within the city limits. It has no business district. The city has some of the most exclusive zoning regulations in the region--the zoning code allows only for single-family homes, and the smallest lot allowed is about 8,000 square feet.

This little hamlet has remained small because of the street-by-street political battle fought in 1957 by a group of anti-growth residents; they were led by a tough former vice admiral, also the city's first mayor, Thomas B. Inglis Sr.

Monte Sereno residents once feared their town would become another neighborhood of Los Gatos. During the mid-1950s, annexation and incorporation were easily accomplished, and Santa Clara Valley communities were either expanding to swallow up as much territory as possible or incorporating to defend their independence.

Inglis and a group of neighbors sued Los Gatos to stop the bigger neighbor from swallowing Monte Sereno. Later, Inglis organized and personally commanded the drive for incorporation. Every important street had a lieutenant and a captain.

Monte Sereno Treasurer Paul Oliver, also a councilmember from 1972 to 1976, recalls that Inglis ran a shipshape campaign.

"He was a very thorough gentleman," Oliver said. "He organized it beautifully."

As the residents sought to incorporate the area, Los Gatos officials took them to court to block their election. Los Gatos claimed, among other things, that the land could not be incorporated because most of it was "uninhabited." To support the case, Monte Serenans opposing incorporation withdrew their names from voter roles, thereby reducing the apparent population per acre.

Finally, on April 23, 1957, voters got to decide the matter, and they chose to form the city of Monte Sereno out of 1.5 square miles of territory.

Things have been mighty slow around here since the incorporation.

"I think we've really tried to maintain that small atmosphere throughout the years," said three-time Monte Sereno Mayor Barbara Winckler, who served on the council from 1974 to 1992.

Inglis, now considered a hero by many Monte Serenans, passed away on May 12, 1984. He was 86 years old. Inglis served as mayor from the city's incorporation in 1957 until 1967.

Inglis' widow, Kathryn Inglis, died April 13, 1997. She would have been 102 on May 9. The founder's son, Thomas Inglis Jr., still lives in Monte Sereno.