Redwood City, CA

Redwood City, located approximately 27 miles south of San Francisco and 24 miles north of San Jose, on the San Francisco Peninsula. Redwood City has a total square area of 34.6 square miles, but more than 40 percent of it is water. The 2010 population was 76,815, with a population density of 2,218 per square mile.

Redwood City was part of the 35,000-acre Rancho de las Pulgas ("Ranch of the Fleas"). This land was granted in 1795 to Don José Darío Argüello, one of the last governors of Spanish California. Part of the land was later acquired by Simon M. Mezes, an attorney for Jose’s son Don Luis Argüello, who had hired him to defend his title to the land after the Mexican American War.

The land around Redwood City was primarily used for grazing cattle and horses, until the discovery in 1851 of a deep-water channel off of Redwood Creek. After this discovery the Redwood City area drew squatters and settlers who wanted to establish homes and businesses in the area to support the growing shipping industry. Instead of trying to force the squatters off the property, Mezes decided to create the town and sell lots, he named his town Mezesville. However the residents of the new town rejected the name and continued to call it Redwood City. By 1856 the town of Redwood City had become well-established.

Redwood City’s deep-water channel was initially used by lumber companies to ship wood from the redwood forests on the peninsula to San Francisco. As the town of Redwood City developed, the creek became silted with mud from the development and erosion making it necessary for the Army Corp of Engineers to dredge the creek so that shipping could continue. Today the port of Redwood City (the only deep water port in the South San Francisco Bay) handles dry bulk, liquid bulk, and cargo, as well as recreational activities.