 The
town of Fremont, California is an ideal location along
the southwestern edge of the San Francisco Bay. It is a
part of Alameda County, Fremont residents enjoy a
splendid quality of life and easy access to great
metropolitan areas. With the cities of San Francisco,
Oakland, and San Jose all just a short trip away.
Fremont's relaxed pace and high quality of life makes it
an ideal place to come home after work. There are around
202,000 residents living within the city limits, making
it one of the most populated cities in the Bay area.
Fremont was a Spanish Mission Town, and you will still
find evidence of it with several significant buildings
preserved as a reminder of Fremont's earliest days.
Families are drawn to Fremont for it stellar public
school systems and it boasts over a dozen "High
Performing Schools" under its umbrella. The district
consistently performs well above the national average.
For higher education, such top-notch schools as the
University of California at Berkeley, UC San Francisco
and the Stanford University are all located nearby.
Fremont is an incredibly desirable community in which to
live. Locals here have much to be proud of in
Fremont. It is consistently rated as one of "America's
Ten Safest Cities" in which to live. Fremont has also
been designated with the "All-American City Award",
which is bestowed on only ten cities each year.
Fremont offers a strong economy. Over a dozen of the
nation's largest publicly-held technology companies are
located here. Some of the nation's fastest-growing
private firms are also headquarter in town. This means
that unemployment rate is consistently below the
national average.
Fremont, California is an elegant, upscale community
that offers its residents the highest possible quality
of life.
The History of
Fremont, California
The Ohlone People
wandered into Fremont and the San Francisco Bay
area several thousand years ago. They
lived a simple life in harmony with nature and
the land. Religion and Ceremony were
important in there daily life activities.
The Mission San Jose was
founded by Father Lasuen on June 11, 1797.
It was the 14th California Mission and was
located about 15 miles northeast of the Pueblo
of San Jose near the foot of Mission Peak.
The Ohlone life was change
forever. The Franciscan Fathers began
converting the Ohlone to Catholicism and
changing them to farmers, herders, laborers and
craftsmen. Hundreds of them came to live
and work at the mission which became the center
of their religious, education, social and
economic lives. Mission San Jose baptized
more Indians than any other mission and reached
a peck population of 1,900.
The site was blessed with
wonderful natural resources. Under the
resourceful direction of dedicated Padres,
Mission San Jose thrived and grew until it
became the most prosperous and successful
mission in Northern California.
Father Narciso directed the
mission from 1806 to 1833. Under his
leadership the adobe church was completed in
1809 and the Mission gained recognition for its
music and choir.
Mission San Jose survives
today as a reminder of our Spanish heritage and
a memorial to the thousand of Native Americans
who lived, worked and died here. This is
where the first Christian Church, school,
industry, farming, and cattle raising in Alameda
County began. The adobe museum building is
a surviving remnant of the huge original
rectangle of living quarters, shops, and
storerooms. A replica 1809 adobe church
was completed in 1984.
The Rancho Era started in 1836
with Mexico winning independence from Spain and
began to reward soldiers and prominent citizen
with huge grants of land known as Rancho. This
process of secularization gradually brought an
end to the Mission Era and ushered in the Rancho
era.
The rancheros ran vast herds
of cattle that provided for their needs.
Life revolved around the herds and was enlivened
by fiestas and feasts. They were
religious, gracious, healthy, family-oriented
people who enjoyed their simple vigorous,
outdoor life.
The Mission system that had
dominated the lives of the Ohlone people was
replaced by the Mexican Government. Many
Ohlones went to work on the Mexican Rancho, but
some returned to their former way of life or
joined local Indian communities.
The peaceful, pastoral life of
the ranchos began to change with the arrival of
American settlers. The Brooklyn bought a
group of Mormons to the Fremont area in 1846.
Some of them stayed and became prominent
settlers in the East Bay. Colonel John C.
Fremont came through, foraging and recruiting as
he pursued the forces. He liked Mission
San Jose so much he tried to buy it.
The treaty at the end of the
War with Mexico made California part of the
United States. The discovery of gold
brought a horde of miners, businessmen,
speculators, and settlers from around the world
in search of land, wealth, and an new life.
They took the Ranchos lands, squeezed out the
landowners and the rancho era.
The Pioneer Era started around
1848 and American settlers migrated over land or
came by ship to Fremont and the San Francisco
Bay area. They bought, rented, or just
took over the fertile farm land in Fremont and
the surrounding area.
These American pioneers
planted thousands of acres of grain and
vegetables and changed the economy from peaceful
pastoral to intensive agricultural.
 They took over the old Mission
and rancho landings, built wharves and
warehouses, and shipped their produce to San
Francisco. John Horner farmed thousands of acres
and was recognized as California's first farmer.
The East Bay became the leading agricultural
area in California.
Mission San Jose became a
boisterous supply center for hordes of miners on
their way to the gold mines. They opened
stores, lodging quarters, restaurants, and
saloons in the old adobe buildings. A post
office was established here in 1850 before
California became a State.
Henry Smith was elected to the
California State Assembly and led the fight to
create the new county of Alameda with the court
house located in his store.
American pioneers build
stores, schools, churches, and lodges.
They developed industries, improved roads,
provided transportation, and created a climate
for business and development. Crops were
good, business thrived, and money circulated in
waves of prosperity until the panic of 1855
temporarily halted progress. Some pioneers lost
almost everything, but they battled through the
crisis and continued developing their farm and
business enterprises.
Eight towns developed in
Washington Township between 1860 and 1945.
Each town had its own stores, churches, schools,
halls, post offices, and organizations.
Each enjoyed periods of growth and suffered
through floods, firs and depressions. All
survived the earthquakes of 1868 and 1906.
Niles enjoyed a period of excitement from 1912
to 1916 when the Essanay Film Manufacturing
Company made silent movies there. Bronco
Billy, Charlie Chaplin, Ben Turpin, Evelyn
Selbie, Wallace Beery, cowboys, Indians, and
baseball players created an atmosphere of
excitement and make believe.
Residents of Washington
Township were untied by geography and government
but were separated into eight small towns.
People visited freely and attended events
throughout the township but retained a special
loyalty to their own town.
Orchards and vineyards
replaced miles of grain fields. Disease
wiped out most vineyards about 1900, and
Prohibition devastated the wine industry.
The water table dripped, crops had to be
irrigated and a water shortage developed.
World War I interrupted life
for many but was followed by a building boom in
the Twenties. The stock market crash in
1929 threw the nation into a depressions.
The approach of World War II ended the
depression and brought back development and
economic prosperity.
Pearl Harbor changed
everything for everybody. People of all
ages worked in defense, industries or on the
farms. Life in Washington Township was filled
with blackouts, Red Cross and defense programs,
bond and scrap drives, price ceilings,
restrictions, shortages, rationing, air raid
signals, enlistments, draft calls, separations,
and sad telegrams. All Japanese Americans
were evacuated from the Township in May 1942.
All development that was not part of the war
effort was postponed.
Washington Township remained a
peaceful paradise, unchanged by the dramatic
 postwar
boom that transformed California into an
industrial Giant. Dairies, apricot orchards, and
fields covered the land around the eight
communities with a combined population of
25,000.
The most amazing local events
were associated with the growth of the area.
Housing tracts were appearing in orchards and
fields. Local chambers discussed problems
of development, zoning and incorporation.
The towns of Niles, Mission San Jose,
Centerville, Irvington and Warm springs were
incorporated into the City of Fremont in 1956.
The opening of the Hub in 1962
was the first step in the development of the
Central Business district. The General
Motors plant opened in 1963.
The City of Fremont has
gradually developed civic facilities and parks.
Central Park was open in 1962, the City
Government Building in 1968, Lake Elizabeth in
1969, the Library Building in 1989 and the
Police Building in 1996.
Recreation in Fremont,
California
 Fremont
offers a wide variety of Facilities and
activities for your enjoyment. Fremont has
several Community Parks, Central Park with Lake
Elizabeth, Historical sites, a Sports Complex,
Tennis Center, Olive Hyde Art Gallery.
Additionally, the city offers many leisure
activities through the Recreation Service
Division.
Central Park and Lake
Elizabeth
Central Park and Lake
Elizabeth began development in 1960. The Park is
set on 450 acres with a 83 acre lake.
Central Park/Lake Elizabeth was named "Best
Park" of the Tri-Cities area. It offers Fishing,
a 1-1/2 mile exercise course, plus a 2 mile walk
around the park. It has 4 playground areas where
parents feel safe letting their children's play.
It has a golf driving range, 2 basketball
courts, a skate park, boat rentals and boat
launching. It's a great place to take your
family and have a picnic with enough activities
that the whole family can enjoy themselves.
Mission Peak
 Mission
Peak rising to the east behind the City of
Fremont, Mission and Monument peaks form a
dramatic backdrop to the South Bay.
Mission Peak is one of the Bay
Area's most underrated summits. The
determined hiker who reaches it top will see
views of Mount Hamilton to the south, the Santa
Cruz Mountains to the west, Mt. Tamalpais to the
north, and the Sierra Nevada to the northeast.
The Hike takes about five hours to reach the
summit and return. The Ohlone Wilderness trail,
a 29-mile hiking and riding trail through some
of Southern Alameda County's most beautiful
wilderness.
Coyote Hills
The East Bay's original
inhabitants were the ancestors of the Ohlone
Indians and in those days elk, condors, sea
otters and fish were abundant in the Bay. At
Coyote Hills Regional Park on Fremont's Bay
shoreline, some of this rich wetland is
preserved, along with Ohlone Indian shellmound
sites with fascinating archaeological resources.
The Visitor Center exhibits
portraying the Ohone way of life, and a tule
reed boat using native American methods. Other
exhibits cover the park's natural history and
wildlife. Tours of the main shellmound
site allow visitors to see a reconstructed tule
house, shade shelter, dance circle, and a sweat
lodge.
Other attractions at 976-acre
Coyote Hills include Marsh Boardwalk, and a
3.5-mile Bay View Trail, a paved loop trail for
hiking and bicycle riding. There are
scenic views of the South
Bay from the park's hilltops.
Numerous picnic tables are
located through out the park. The Dairy
Glen area is available for group overnight
camping.
Quarry Lakes
The Quarry Lakes Recreation
Unit includes Horseshoe Lake and Rainbow Lake
offer a swim complex, including the white sandy
beach, a bathhouse and vending machines and
lifeguard service. Visitors can swim in the
designated beach, picnic, play volleyball, fish,
and enjoy non-gasoline powered watercraft.
Ardenwood Historic Farm
 Ardenwood
Farm is a fully functioning 1890's farm
preserved in a modern world; a place for people
to escape the stress of the modern daily grind.
Today Ardenwood invites you to
experience farm life as it was near the
turn-of-the-century. Draft horses still
pull wagons, rail cars and plows. The land still
grows the kinds of crop George Patterson (the
owner of Ardenwood Farm) tended 100 years ago,
and the farmyard is still full of animals.
Staff and volunteers attired in Victorian
clothing are on hand to show you through the
Patterson family home, to demonstrate farm
chores, to explain the social graces of the
Victorian era, and to carry you by wagon around
the 205-acre farm.
These are just a few samples
of the wonderful recreational area in Fremont.
Fremont, California is a wonderful place to
work, play and raise a family. It's stills offer
a small town charm with all the amenities of a
larger city.
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