San Leandro Portals to Past History for Fun

In 1870 flourishing poultry farms along the road leading to Jane Dutton's farm northeast of San Leandro's town center caused it to be described as 'Chicken Lane".  Jane was a pioneer and a widow who had large poultry farms on the land we know today as Dutton Manor. Originally mapped as part of the San Antonio/Ygnacio Peralta land grant, it was then mapped as the Moorlands and then in the 1920's as Dutton Manor.  This development was bordered on the east by Hollywood Blvd (MacArthur Blvd), Bancroft Ave (Santa Clara Blvd), Durant Ave (Stanley Rd) and Dutton Blvd (Chicken Lane).  The area has separate tracts inside of it such as LeBon and Cherry City. Some Street Names Dates Deeded to City Dutton Ave 1899 Dowling 1908 Durant 1908  (Stanley Rd) Kenilworth 1908 Helen Ave 1912 Lewis Ave 1912 Mitchell Ave 1912 W. Merle 1912 Westbay 1915 Victoria Ave 1915 Broadmoor Near Macarthur was Mathey 1915 Fortuna Ave 1926 Superior Ave 1926 Samples of H

March 20, 2015 Robert S. Farrelly’s home was built in 1869 at Farrelly Drive & Oakland Road (E.14 th  St) Another Gold Rush squatter, Farrelly was a farmer from Pennsylvania who purchased a tract of land and began to develop it as a cherry orchard. & flower gardens.   He was one of the early shippers of fruit in 1891.  In addition to being located on a main route, there was a shipping station on the San Leandro Creek at Toler Road. The Farrelly home and orchard became one of the show places of the county  Mrs. Farrelly helped establish Broadmoor Mother’s Club in 1915.  The original site was at the corner of Breed @ Broadmoor. It is now located on the grounds of Roosevelt School.  The school property also host the Farrelly Swimming Pool and Farrelly Building which is on Dutton Ave (formally Chicken Lane) Mrs. Farrelly owned a property at the corner of Washington & Ward.  She donated it to the Masonic Lodge aka. Legion Hall.  It was later dedicated as the Henriet

In the last post we covered the spilt of the land grant between Castro and Estudillo but there was a 3 rd area left alone to the Native Americans, the Costanoan, who lived in the hills above Fairmont Hospital.  Archeologists have found the remains of shellmounds and burial grounds.  (When I was growing up the area was off limits but we would sneak up there to look at the area.)  Studies have revealed at least ten archeological sites between the north fork of San Leandro Creek and San Lorenzo Creek.  Three of these were on the banks of the inlets in the Marina Area, one at Oakland Airport, four along the north side of the reek and one on San Lorenzo Creek.   The largest was Fairmont. Since the “Indian lands” exempted from Castro and Estudillo grants the borders and other lands on the fringe of Estudillo lands were not clearly defined they provided an excuse for squatters to encroach upon both grants disregarding the rights of any Indians still in the neighborhood. Squatters f

.   IF YOU LIVE HERE YOU PRONOUNCE ESTUDILLO “ESTA-DILLO”.  Sorry Spanish speakers… As I tell you this story you will recognize some of our street names with origins in our founding families. The 1 st settler was Don Jose Joaquin and this wife Dona Juana .   Don Joaquin, as he was referred to, was friends with the new governor, Don Juan Alvarado . Alvarado was put to the task of was dividing up grazing lands between friends.  Some of the Estudillo land was redistributed to Guillermo Castro , who was related to the governor by marriage.  The hills of Castro Valley to Eastern Hayward was appropriated and Estudillo was left with all the grazing land below that.  Estudillo Home Corner of W. Estudillo & Carpentier Now San Leanders Church 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 Palomar