Santa Cruz County Place Name: Winkles Bridge (July 15, 2026)
A bridge that crossed Rodeo Creek along what is now known as Soquel Drive. It existed at least some time before 1888 when the following notice appeared in the Santa Cruz Surf, June 2, 1888:
…a subscription is being circulated to raise funds to defray the expenses of sprinkling Soquel Road from the covered bridge at Santa Cruz to Winkle’s bridge near Soquel.
Named for a land owner. Hatch’s county map of 1889 shows lands in Section 9, T11S, R1W, bordering both the road and the creek which were owned by one H. W. Inkel, obviously a mistake for H. Winkel. On the south side of the road the map shows property of Winkel. H. Winkel is listed in the roster of members of the Santa Cruz Society of California Pioneers as a native of Germany born February 22, 1822, who arrived in California in September 1850. His name is given as Henry Winkle in Guinn (1903, p.636) where the author writes:
Landing in New Orleans, Mr. Winkle subsequently went to St. Louis, where he lived for four years, and during the latter part of that time was disturbed by the rumors of gold that came from ship passengers and overland travelers. He therefore joined a caravan bound for the great plains, and upon arriving at this destination on the coast, located at Placerville, where for seventeen years he tempted fate in the surrounding mines. He experienced the average number of disappointments and failures, but he was successful to the extent that he was able to purchase his present ranch of two hundred acres upon his removal to Santa Cruz] county in 1866.
He is listed as Henry Wenkle, farmer from Prussia, Soquel, in The Great Register of Santa Cruz County, 1867. He became a naturalized citizen on August 14, 1867. The Soquel Cemetery records show the name as Henry Winkle, died February 20, 1903, aged 81.
“Winkles Bridge” is an excellent example of how geography, and what I call “small history”, the history of people who lived extraordinary lives (Henry Winkle's travels alone--migrating from Germany to New Orleans to St. Louis to California--are fascinating to think about), but were not “great men (and occasionally women) of history”, even just locally. Mr. Winkle was obviously prominent enough to merit an entry in J.M. Quinn’s 1903 history / “biographical record”, but it doesn’t seem that he occupied any official position of power or authority, though he was a member of the “Santa Cruz Society of California Pioneers” (along with his wife, Lucie nee. Junsen), according to the his entry on the Santa Cruz History Wiki.
Completely undocumented in the Santa Cruz History Wiki, I found a fascinating little family saga when a search revealed an entry for his step-son, Leonard Cornelius Winkle, on Find A Grave. Leonard “legally changed his surname from Fischer to Winkle in 1900”. That site also reveals that the full name of Henry's wife was Anna Marie Lucie Jensen Winkle (she was born in Germany as well). Anna was previously married to one George A. Fisher, who died in 1872 (with whom she had three sons), a year before she married Henry in 1873. According to the entry for George Henry Winkle, all three brothers took Henry’s last name (as adults) after being raised by him. One would presume that this is an indication of Henry’s parental character.
The entry for Henry himself includes an obituary in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, which states “The funeral of the late Henry Winkle took place Friday under the auspices of the Masons. Interment was in the Soquel cemetery.” Only a Mason is honored this way, so that’s another indicator of social status. Further, and this is a really interesting example of family dynamics, according to the site, Henry had a first wife, Fredericka Hagemann Winkle, who may very well have died in childbirth (as there is a baby grave with the same date of death, 1871, sharing her plot). Now, the fascinating part: Henry and Lucie had one child, Fredricka Anna “Freda” Winkle Salmonson (born in 1876, died in 1941), and she is are buried in the same plot (according to Find A Grave) as her (presumed) namesake. It’s something to name your first child / first daughter after your deceased ex-wife!
A quick search reveals that there is a “Winkle Ave” in Soquel, along with a Winkle Farm County Park on that same street (just off Soquel Avenue near Dominican), which seem likely to be related. A glance at a property records site shows that the oldest residences were built in 1925 (1) and 1930 (2), with further batches being built in the 1940s and 1960s and 1980s, which suggests a pattern of development after the original owners passed on.
At a guess, a deeper dig into county records might yield some information of how “Winkle Farm” became “Winkle Farm County Park” and where Winkle Ave. got its name. All this from a casual, “Winkles Bridge, that sounds interesting” when flipping through the Place Names book!
Tags: columns, place-names, bratton-online, writing