San Leandro Portals to Past History for Fun

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. 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. Cas...

There are many fine historic homes in historic San Leandro that I will cover in a later blog.  This home, however, was the first of the grand residences. The Estudillo Home "In 1850 Señor Estudillo saw the completion of a fine family home, the Estudillo Home. Lavish champagne parties costing thousands of dollars were held in the stately home.  Eventually the home became part of St. Leander's Church and remained standing for almost one hundred years before it was torn down in 1949 to make way for the construction of St. Leander's rectory."* " Jose Joaquin Estudillo died at this residence on June 7, 1852.  Upon transfer of the county seat to San Leandro in 1854 the Estudillo home was offered for temporary use to the county.  During that period a fire broke out and forced evacuation of the court then in session.  To avoid any objection to the transfer to another location, Judge Hester is said to have reconvened the court as close to the origina...