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Castro Valley, California

Castro Valley
CDP
Castro Valley, ca. 1970
Castro Valley, ca. 1970
Location of Castro Valley within Alameda County, California.
Location of Castro Valley within Alameda County, California.
Castro Valley is located in the US
Castro Valley
Castro Valley
Location in the United States
Coordinates: 37°41′39″N 122°05′11″W / 37.69417°N 122.08639°W / 37.69417; -122.08639Coordinates: 37°41′39″N 122°05′11″W / 37.69417°N 122.08639°W / 37.69417; -122.08639
Country  United States
State  California
County Alameda
Government
 • State Senate Bob Wieckowski (D)
 • State Assembly Bill Quirk (D)
 • U. S. Congress Eric Swalwell (D)
Area
 • Total 16.919 sq mi (43.819 km2)
 • Land 16.635 sq mi (43.083 km2)
 • Water 0.284 sq mi (0.735 km2)  1.68%
Elevation 161 ft (49 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 61,388
 • Density 3,690.3/sq mi (1,424.8/km2)
Time zone PST (UTC-8)
 • Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes 94546, 94552
Area code(s) 510
FIPS code 06-11964
GNIS feature IDs 1658237, 2407987
Site of the first public school in Castro Valley
Location 19200 Redwood Rd., Castro Valley, California
Coordinates 37°42′24″N 122°04′26″W / 37.7067°N 122.073983°W / 37.7067; -122.073983
Reference no. 776

Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, it is the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California and the twenty-third most populous in the United States. The population was 61,388 at the 2010 census.

Castro Valley is named after Don Guillermo Castro, who was a soldier in the Mexican army and a rancher.

First known for chicken ranches, Castro Valley eventually became a bedroom community.

Before the arrival of European settlers the area was settled by the Chocheño (also spelled Chochenyo or Chocenyo) subdivision of the Ohlone Native Americans.

With the arrival of Europeans, Castro Valley was part of the land granted to Mission San Jose in 1797. The area Castro Valley now occupies was part of the extensive colony of New Spain in what was the state of Alta California.

Castro Valley was part of the original 28,000 acre (110 km²) land grant given to Castro, called Rancho San Lorenzo. This land grant included Hayward, San Lorenzo, and Castro Valley, including Crow Canyon, Cull Canyon, and Palomares Canyons. Castro had a gambling habit and had to sell off portions of his land to pay gambling debts. The last of his holding was sold in a sheriff's sale in 1864 to Faxon Atherton for $400,000.

Atherton (after whom the city of Atherton is named) in turn began selling off his portion in smaller parcels. Two gentlemen named Cull (the namesake of Cull Canyon) and Luce bought some 2,400 acres (10 km²) and began running a steam-operated saw mill in Redwood Canyon. The Jensen brothers also bought land from Atherton in 1867.


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