Did you know? What you now know as Downtown Redwood City was once part of a large Spanish ranchero owned by the Arguello family. This ranchero was used for grazing cattle and horses and providing missions in the area with supplies of food and animal hides. When California became part of the U.S., the redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains were logged for construction in rapidly growing San Francisco. Later, a deep-water channel was discovered nearby and so a wharf was established for shipping lumber to San Francisco. A small village of laborers sprang up around the
wharf. However, these laborers did not own the land--it was actually owned by a man named Siman Mezes, who had received the land as payment for successfully defending the Arguello family's title before the US Land Commission in 1853. Mezes began to tell the people occupying the land to pay for the lots or get out and allow others to buy. He drew up a map determining the blocks and streets of his property--which are the blocks and streets of Downtown Redwood City today.Read the whole story on Redwood City's website here.
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