LIVING IN SAN LEANDRO
San Leandro is a friendly and diverse City with a
colorful heritage and numerous cultural amenities
including a 450-berth Marina, two golf courses and a
large community library center. Discovered in 1772
by a Spanish explorer, San Leandro became famous
during the late 1800s and early 1900s for its
delicious cherries. In 1909, to celebrate the
abundant cherry harvest, San Leandro held its first
Cherry Festival, an event which was so successful,
it is still celebrated today.
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San Leandro
Creek at Root Park |
In addition to the
Cherry Festival, San Leandro is also well-known for
its quiet, well-defined neighborhoods full of
charming and unique older houses on tree-lined
streets. San Leandro residents are proud of both
their neighborhoods and their City which can be seen
in their active involvement in the City's numerous
neighborhood and homeowner's associations. San
Leandro's temperate weather also makes it an
excellent place for outdoor recreation. With an
average temperature of 62 degrees and average
rainfall of 19 inches per year, outdoor activity at
the one of the many City parks is possible all year
round.*
San Leandro was first
discovered on March 20, 1772 by Spanish soldier
Captain Pedro Fages and the Spanish Catholic priest
Father Crespi. Forty-eight years later, to increase
settlement and strengthen their claim to the Bay
Area, the Spanish gave to retired Spanish soldier
Don Luis Maria Peralta a 43,000 acre land grant
which he named Rancho San Antonio. In 1842, Don Jose
Joaquin Estudillo, also a retired Spanish soldier,
was granted 7,000 acres of land in the San Leandro
area, which he named Rancho San Leandro.
In 1849 the Gold Rush struck California, and
thousands journeyed to the state in search of wealth
and prosperity. However, many who were not
successful in the gold fields soon moved on to the
Bay Area, and settled in the San Leandro area. As a
result of this increased settlement, in 1855 John
Ward, the son-in-law of Joaquin Estudillo, filed a
map of a townsite to be called San Leandro with the
County government. From 1856 to 1868, San Leandro
was the County Seat for Alameda County until the
County Courthouse located at Clarke and Davis
Streets was destroyed by the 1868 earthquake.
Afterwards, Oakland became the county seat, largely
because it was to be the terminal of the proposed
Central Pacific Railroad. San Leandro was
incorporated as a town on March 21,1872, one hundred
years and a day after the area was first discovered.
San Leandro industry
continued to develop during the late 1800s, thanks
to the San Francisco, Alameda and Stockton Railroad
Company, which offered relatively cheap
transportation. Built in 1865, the line ran from
Alameda to Davis Street, and many factories were
located on or adjacent to the rail line. In San
Leandro, agriculture continued to be an important
industry up until the early 1900s. Cherries were one
of the City's most well-known crops, and to honor
their importance to San Leandro's development, the
first Cherry Festival, a tradition which continues
today, was held in 1909.
During and after World War II, San Leandro underwent
explosive population growth. For example, from 1940
to 1950, and again from 1950 to 1960, the population
doubled and thousands of homes sprang up in the
community. In addition to population growth, from
April 1942 to October 1965, 87 industrial parcels
were annexed to the City, in addition to 27 other
non-industrial tracts. Following the War, San
Leandro's manufacturing and commercial sectors
continued to expand. New shopping centers, such as
the Pelton Center on East 14th Street, were opened
to meet the expanding residential demand for
commercial services. Even the City government
underwent change, as the San Leandro charter was
revised in 1947 and a new zoning law was passed.
By the late 1960s,
the City was largely built out, with almost no land
available for development or annexation. Because
many of the residents who moved to San Leandro in
the 1950s and 1960s have stayed here, San Leandro
now has a large elderly population, although
increasing numbers of families with children have
begun moving in to the City. In the 1980s, the
community's diversity grew as African Americans,
Asian Americans and Hispanics also began moving in
to the City. In addition, the industrial makeup of
the City has been changing, moving away from its
traditional manufacturing base toward more of an
emphasis on services and warehousing industries.*
City
Link:
http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/
San
Leandro Unified School District Link:
http://www.SanLeandro.K12.ca.us/
San Lorenzo Unified School
District Link:
http://www.SanLorenzoUSD.K12.ca.us/
*Copyright ©
December, 1999 City of San Leandro, California. All
rights reserved. |
