Forbes Mill, Historic mill building in Los Gatos, California, United States

Forbes Mill is the surviving two-story storage annex, added in 1880 to the north wall of the original four-story stone mill. Its lower floors were built of stone quarried in Los Gatos Canyon, while the top story was wood cut from the mountains above town. The original mill building was torn down in 1916.

James Alexander Forbes, a Scottish-born British vice-consul in San Francisco, built the Santa Rosa Flour Mill in 1854 after borrowing $130,000; machinery shipped from New York around Cape Horn began grinding flour on December 1, 1855. The mill defaulted and was sold in 1857. William H. Rogers bought it in 1866, raised the waterhead to 65 feet and later 200 feet, and with partners formed the Los Gatos Manufacturing Co. in 1869. Milling ended in 1887; the original stone building was torn down in 1916.

The mill gave its name to the settlement around it: first Forbes Mill, then Forbestown, and finally Los Gatos. It was built on the site of a Mexican ranch, marking the shift of land from Californio owners to settlers who arrived after the Mexican–American War. The building later housed the Los Gatos history museum, which closed in 2014.

The museum closed in 2014, so the building is not open for exhibitions or staffed visits; its collections moved to New Museum Los Gatos. The surviving structure is the two-story 1880 storage annex, not the original four-story stone mill, which was torn down in 1916. The building is owned by the city of Los Gatos.

The settlement that grew around the mill was first called Forbes Mill, then Forbestown, before eventually becoming the present-day town of Los Gatos. This progression shows how a single building shaped the identity of an entire community.