Under the guidance of the George Roop and William McDonald families during the years of 1865 of Francisco Cantua's discovery to the 1930s, Gilroy Hot Springs was a popular health and family resort oriented around a single hot mineral spring located near Coyote Creek. In 1938 the resort was purchased by H.K. Sakata, a successful Japanese American farmer from Watsonville. Renamed the Gilroy Yamato Hot Springs, it was the only Japanese American owned commercial hot springs in California. The resort served as a recreational and spiritual center for Japanese Americans before World War II and briefly as a hostel after the war for those returning from internment camps.

Citation from California Office of Historic Preservation