San Lorenzo, CA 94580

William Meek's 2,200 acre farm San Lorenzo, California, circa 1877. (From Official and Historical Atlas of Alameda County, 1878)   The residence of William Meek in San Lorenzo was begun in 1869 and completed in 1870 for $40,000. Meek spent $5,000 on furnishings. By the time the Meek mansion was under construction Meek had acquired some 3,000 acres. The estate included all of the land between what is now Mission Blvd. and Hesperian Blvd., starting from near the San Lorenzo Creek to just past A Street in Hayward. His former partner, Henderson Lewelling, purchased adjoining land to the north (see the 1877 map). Most of Meek's vast acreage was gradually sold off as residential lots. Real estate brokers touted the evolving community as "Cherryland" because of the many cherry trees planted by Meek. The remainder of Meek's estate was held by the Meek family until 1940, when Dr. Milton P. Ream purchased the last 10 acres and the mansion. In 1964 the mansion was slated to be razed in preparation for a housing development. The Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD), with citizen backing, bought the estate. In 1973 the Mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. For a number of years the mansion was available to the public for rental for parties and wedding receptions. However, over-use and the need for greater supervision caused HARD to discontinue the rental policy. Restoration of the carriage house was completed in 1995. In May 1996 undertook restoration of the mansion.

Did you know... The original town of San Lorenzo was at Hesperian (then called Telegraph) and Lewelling (then called Main). John L. Shiman opened the first store in San Lorenzo in 1853. A blacksmith was essential to the community because he didn't just shoe horses. The trip from San Jose to Oakland was slow enough that people often wanted to stop overnight at The Willows Hotel (1863) in San Lorenzo. A second hotel, called the San Lorenzo House, was located at Lewelling and Hesperian. The hotel was a stagecoach stop, and mail was left there for local residents.  David Bohannon developed San Lorenzo Village and became a celebrity within the property development community. His "California Method" of assembly line-style home construction was written about in many building industry publications because of its remarkable results: 1,500 San Lorenzo houses were built in 500 days. Mervin Morris opened his firt Mervyn's store in San Lorenzo in 1948.  It was located at 341 Paseo Grande, although within a few years he moved to a larger store across the street.  By 1960 the store had been expanded 13 times.    Click here for more information on the Did You Know blurbs.

For information on buying or selling east bay homes, please contact me at 510-429-4800 or send me a note on the  form.    Joanne L. Gardiner, Broker, e-PRO Realtor Advantage Realty 3205 Whipple Road - Union City, California 94587 (510) 429-4800 San Francisco Bay Area  San Francisco East Bay Real Estate Our primary realty service areas in the San Francisco Bay Area: Hayward, Castro Valley, Fremont, Newark, Niles, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, San Ramon, Sunol, Oakland, Foster City, Burlingame, and San Mateo. The types of real estate in which we specialize are:  single family homes, detached homes, attached homes, duets, condominiums, townhomes, garden homes, PUDs, manufactured homes, mobile homes,  income property, investment property, tri-plexes, four-plexes, apartment property, and special use properties such as churches for sale.