Rancho to Ranch Homes

Download or read book Rancho to Ranch Homes written by RIchard Kelly, Jr. and published by . This book was released on 2022-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 500 page book is a new telling of the history of the unincorporated community of Castro Valley, California. It narrates the story of the evolution of the town from a Spanish Mission grazing pasture to a large, suburban bedroom community. The history is told in equal measures by images, maps and text. This is the first history of the town that leverages the power of the modern internet, allowing the discovery of photographs, maps and stories previously hidden on musty academic library shelves or deep in county archives, as well as making it possible to find ancestors of old timers and tap into their family albums and lore. For the first time, extensive use was made of the old Alameda and Contra Costa County squatter, deed and mortgage records, defining exactly who purchased what land, when, and at what cost. Alameda County placed all of their maps going back to 1853 on line in 2016, this unmined treasure trove of historical data proved to be one of the key sources for the project. All of the official US government records for the rancho confirmation court cases pertaining to town namesake Guillermo Castro and his neighbors the Estudillos and Sotos in the 1850's are distilled into a chapter covering this sordid era in US history. The overarching ambition of the work is to describe in detail each stage in the towns development and to explain why each change occurred when it did. Growth spurts triggered by the gold rush, the diaspora fleeing the great San Francisco Earthquake in 1906 and the arrival of critical war workers during WWII are described in detail. Pioneers and key civic leaders are detailed in each stages of the community's development. One chapter illustrates the history of the many failed attempts to incorporate Castro Valley as a self-governing city. Surrounding communities are described where appropriate to provide context for the changes in Castro Valley. Several well accepted stories about Castro Valley turned out to be apocryphal, including an officially designated California Historical landmark. This book sets the record straight.