San Ramon, California, 94583, 94582, 94526
Home buyers are seeking out San Ramon for a variety of important reasons. In 2007 San Ramon Valley School District API test scores are ranked in the top 10 districts among larger California School Districts. The rapid growth of housing since the 1960's has created a wide range of prices styles and amenities. Excelent planning has created many parks, shopping and high paying jobs in San Ramon. We see the continued job and housing growth is expect keep housing demand high in San Ramon in the foreseeable future.
San Ramon's population of about 51,000 is expecting to grow to approximately 90,000 as Windermere and other developments are built out. With this kind of grouth San Ramon is one of Contra Costa County's most exciting and progressive cities.
Bishop Ranch put San Ramon on the map as a major employment center. With over 200 employers and more than 16,500 employees such as AT T (formaly Pacific Bell), Bank Of America, IBM, Chevron San Ramon is one of the largest job center in Contra Costa County. Alex Mehran foresaw Bishop Ranch for San Francisco companies to shift their back-office operations from expensive quarters downtown to more competitive space in the suburbs . When Mehran transformed 585 acres of orchards into Bishop Ranch Business Park he changed the character of the city from a bedroom community to a major employment center
San Ramon has more than seven shopping centers, 12 parks, the community center, a senior center and much more..
San Ramon Creek was named after a vaquero, Ramon, who tended Mission sheep here and who was later the administrator at Mission San Jose. Don Amador, in a land title case in 1855, explained that "San" was added to the creek's name to conform with Spanish custom.
American settlers came to San Ramon in 1850, when Leo Norris purchased 4,450 acres from Don Amador. He and his partner William Lynch built the first frame house (made of redwoods from Oakland) and planted the first barley crop. In 1852 Joel and Minerva Fowler Harlan built their first home on today's county line; James Dougherty bought 10,000 acres from Amador, and Major Samuel Russell settled on 600 acres near Norris Canyon.
Many of the people who founded San Ramon are remembered today because their names grace various canyons, hills and streets. Some of these pioneers were Norris, Lynch, Harlan, McCamley, Crow, Cox, Bollinger, Fereira, Boone, Meese, Glass, and Wiedemann. Initially the Americans called the area Brevensville, Lynchville, and Limerick, after early settlers Eli Breven, William Lynch, and the large Irish population. The first village developed adjacent to San Ramon Creek at the intersection of Old Crow Canyon Road and San Ramon Valley Boulevard. When a permanent post office was established in 1873, it was called San Ramon.
With the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad's San Ramon branch line in 1891, other changes took place. The name "San Ramon" permanently replaced Limerick. Crops and passengers were now able to travel to and from the area, no matter what the weather did to the roads. Until 1909 it was the terminus for the line and the most prosperous village in the Valley.
In 1895 attorney Thomas Bishop bought 3,000 acres of Norris land on which he raised cattle and sheep and planted hay and grain. Bishop Ranch Shropshire purebred sheep earned numerous awards in the early 20th century. Later huge pear and walnut orchards covered the land, helping to make the valley the "pear capital of the world"
As with the entire Valley, agriculture was the basis for San Ramon's economy until the 1960's when the new state highway, I-680 was completed. Developers Ken Volk and Bob McClain built the first suburban homes at the county line: "Country quiet, city close" was their radio theme song. A special district, the Valley Community Services District (VCSD) provided urban services for these new homes, including parks, sewer, water, fire protection and garbage collection.
In 1983, San Ramon voters decided by an overwhelming vote to incorporate as a separate city and took control over development, police, parks and other services, A new library, community center, city hall, park, and hospital testify to the energy which the new city released. No longer a quiet outskirts of the Bay Area, San Ramon looks to the future and values its past.
