When Hamann took office in 1950, San Jose had about 95,000 people on 17 square miles. He set out to make it the dominant city of the valley. His staff, nicknamed “Dutch’s Panzer Division,” annexed land 1,389 times, often in narrow strips along main roads toward future shopping centers, so that the sales tax would come to San Jose and neighboring towns were hemmed in.
By 1969 the city had about 495,000 residents and 136 square miles. The costs of fast growth set off a backlash, and voters elected growth-control mayors Norman Mineta in 1971 and Janet Gray Hayes in 1974. Many of today’s San Jose neighborhoods, from Alviso to Cambrian, came into the city in the Hamann years.