History of San Jose, California many orchards in the Santa Clara Valley, which emitted a delightful smell of ripening fruit, that a common nickname for the Santa Clara Valley was "The Valley of Heart's Delight". Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) was founded in nearby Los Gatos as the "Bean Spray Pump Company" in 1884 and moved to San Jose in 1903. In 1941 the company received an order from the United States War Department for one thousand LVTs, bringing defense contracts to San Jose for the first time. After World War II, FMC continued as a defense contractor, with the San Jose facilities designing and manufacturing
San Jose State Spartans football more Big West Conference football championship titles than any other team in the history of the Big West Conference. The Spartans moved to the WAC in 1996. † – Conference co-champions San Jose State has made 10 bowl appearances and the Spartans have an overall bowl game record of 7–3. San Jose State's biggest rival is California State University, Fresno, due in large part to the two schools' geographic proximity and long history of competing in the same conferences. Fresno is the largest city in the agriculturally-rich San Joaquin Valley. San Jose is the largest city in the metropolitan capital