| ...bits of
history of Valinhos
To have a better understanding about the history of Valinhos, is best to start drawing our attention to episodes before May 28, 1896; when Valinhos gained the political status of Peace District.
In the same period when the "sesmaria" was given to Alexandre Simões, Campinas was still denominated as "bairro de Mato Grosso das Campinas", which belonged to the county of Jundiaí. In 1741, Francisco Barreto Leme, and his family established residence in the region and so a village is started. In 1774, the "bairro de Jundiaí" gains the status of District and in November 1797 Campinas gains the status of county. From those episodes on, it’s not possible to determine when the Village of Valinhos was founded. In that period and where the county is today, there was noticeable development due to large farms. The Dois Córregos Farm, where the "bairro Dois Córregos" is today, belonged to Brigadeiro Luiz Antonio, whom was known to be the richest man in the "capitania" (division of the land during monarchy), and that alone owned 16 sugar plantations in Campinas. Another important fact related to our origins, happened during the yellow fever epidemic that devastated Campinas in 1889. According to calculations made by doctors in that period, the population of Campinas, which was of 20.000 citizens, was reduced to 4.000, not because of death but because most fled from the city afraid of the epidemic.
In June 3, 1890 Dr. Corrêa Dutra, director of the Medical Commission, sent by the state Governor, presents its report about the new epidemic. In the report he states that other localities of Campinas such as Rebouças (Sumaré -1960), Santa Bárbara, Boa Vista and Valinhos where badly affected by the disease. Since many citizens from Campinas reached Valinhos seeking refuge due to the yellow fever epidemic of 1889, the 6th Electorate Section of Campinas was transferred there. These facts trigger the development and the future of the district of Valinhos. In September 1, 1893, the Official State Journal publishes in the section "Expediente da Secretaria dos Negócios da Justiça", page 7840, the act that would create the Police District of Valinhos. The traffic on the railroad company - "Cia. Paulista de Estrada de Ferro" - from the city of Jundiaí to Valinhos, started in March 1872. Until then all transportation which was done by mules through precarious roads started to use the train which gained great importance. The railroad was initially used for the transportation of coffee grain sacks, to the sea harbor in the city of Santos. According to the historian Benedito Otávio, in 1907, when the railroad company – "Cia. Paulista de Estrada de Ferro" – was inaugurated, the traffic was very few. Growth started after the promulgation of the law that abolished slavery in May 13, 1888. With the abolition of slavery came the lack of land laborers and also in 1888 the first Italian immigrants arrived giving a new impulse to agriculture.
If Valinhos had a national and why not an international projection, it is due to it’s main agricultural produce, the purple fig, introduced in Valinhos lands by the Italian immigrant Lino Busatto in 1901. From 1910 on, the fig was produced in commercial scale, fact that gave Valinhos the national distinction of Capital of the Purple Fig. In December 30, 1953, the state government promulgates the law 2.456 creating the County of Valinhos. The first elections happen in October 3, 1954, resulting in the election of Jerônymo Alves Corrêa as the first major of Valinhos with a total of 1.832 votes. The county was officially installed in January 1, 1955, when the major and 13 councilors assume.
... about the origins of Campinas Troupers that traveled along a path
called "Caminho dos Goiases" rested in a camp between the villages of Jundiaí
and Mogi-Mirim. The camp was known as "Campinas do Mato Grosso" due to three
small "descampados" (clearance in the forest) or "campinhos" in the
middle of the dense forest. The actual settlement started only after the establishment of Since the churches in Jundiaí were too far, in 1772 a formal petition was sent to the government asking for the construction of a chapel. In 1773, through political pressures, the ecclesiastic authorities authorized the construction of a cathedral instead of a simple chapel. Although the village was still politically dependent of Jundiaí, the cathedral meant the religious emancipation of Campinas. In May 14, 1774, Morgado Mateus governor of São Paulo gave Barreto Leme the foundation of the nucleus and ruled some basic urbane measures for the place. In July 14, 1774, in an improvised chapel, Father Antonio de Pádua, the first priest of the new parish, celebrated the first mass. This date is known as the official date of the foundation of Campinas. In 1775, the District of "Conceição de Campinas" was created. In 1797 it gained the status of village with the name of São Carlos, and had a county with its own territory apart from Jundiaí. São Carlos had 2.107 habitants had more the 400 houses.
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The first episode in our history registers the concession of
a "sesmaria" (virgin land given by the king or by a royal person) to the
"sesmeiro" (someone in charge of dividing the land or making it productive)
Alexandre Simões Vieira in December 2, 1732, given by the President of São Paulo,
Antonio Luiz de Távora, Count of Sarzedas. History reveals that Alexandre Simões Vieira
opened a new path from Jundiaí to Goiazes and in doing so used as camp a riverside called
Pinheiros. The main purpose of this new path was to substitute an old, far and precarious
path that went from the " bairro de Jundiaí" to a grassland called
"Campinas do Mato Grosso". Until then, such path was known as Road of Goiás and
was very used back in 1722 due to the discovery of gold in Goiás.
In April 31, 1889, Valinhos was the stage of an important reunion of
the Municipal Chamber of Campinas. This reunion was scheduled to charge the province
government a legislative assembly to rule in extraordinary session, sanitation measures to
control surges of new epidemics. Valinhos wasn’t affected by the yellow fever
epidemic this year, which wasn’t true in 1890 as a new and smaller epidemic also hits
Campinas.
The many Coffee Farms that grew in the entire region, motivated the
construction of the railroad. In May 28, 1896, the small but prosperous village of
Valinhos gained the new political status of Peace District, and used the same geographical
boundaries as the Police District created in 1893, to define the geographical limits of
the new district.
Francisco Barreto Leme, his family and his compatriots. According to a census
in 1767 there were 185 persons living in the district called "bairro de Mato
Grosso". The economy was based in subsistence farming and the resources where
minimum.
The title of São
Carlos never gained popularity, so in 1842 the village gained the category of city with
its already popular name of Campinas. The sugar cane plantations and the sugar farms that
employed mainly slaves headed the regional economy. In the beginning of the 19th century
the economy slowly turned from sugar cane monoculture to coffee monoculture. In 1830 the
coffee was already consolidated in the region, so in 1854 there were 117 coffee farms that
together produced more than 4.500 tons of coffee. The European immigrants came to slowly
substitute the slaves in the farms and in the railroad. Besides being conservative due to
the monocultures and authoritative due to slavery, the accumulation of capital generated
by agriculture, developed a third economical sector – commerce and finances –
which generated an infrastructure capable of organizing the industrial growth started in
the final period of the 19th century.