Alviso Adobe Community Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Alviso Adobe Community Park |
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The Alviso adobe
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| Location | 3546 Old Foothill Road Pleasanton, California 94588 |
| Area | 7 acres (2.8 ha) |
| Built | 1854 |
| Architect | Francisco Alviso |
| Official name: Francisco Solano Alviso Adobe | |
| Designated | September 24, 1953 |
| Reference no. | 510 |
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The Alviso Adobe Community Park is a 7-acre (2.8 ha) park in Pleasanton, California, United States. It is built around an adobe house from 1854. This house was built by Francisco Alviso on land that was once part of a large Mexican land grant called Rancho Santa Rita.
The Alviso Adobe is special because it's one of the few old adobe houses that was used continuously until 1969. It is recognized as California Historical Landmark #510. The park opened to the public on October 25, 2008. Inside the park, you can see the adobe house furnished like it was in the 1920s. There's also a copy of an old dairy and exhibits that teach about the Ohlone culture.
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History of the Alviso Adobe
The Adobe House: 1854 to 1969
The adobe house was built in 1854 by Francisco Alviso. It was located on the huge 8,894-acre (35.99 km2) Rancho Santa Rita. This ranch was given as a Mexican land grant to Jose Dolores Pacheco in 1839. Francisco Alviso's father, Francisco Solano Alviso, used to manage this ranch.
In the 1860s, when railroads became popular, Rancho Santa Rita was divided into many smaller pieces of land. The Alviso Adobe became the center of a "small" 200-acre (0.8 km2) farm. Francisco Alviso, his wife Maria Ysabel, and their ten children lived there.
In 1872, Alviso sold the property to J. West Martin. Martin was a land speculator, meaning he bought and sold land to make money. He later became the mayor of Oakland. Martin then sold it to Anthony Chabot, who was known as the "Water King." The Alviso family continued to live in the adobe until the 1880s.
Later, in 1881, the Contra Costa Water Company bought the adobe. Different families who rented the land (called tenant farmers) lived in the house. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake caused damage to the building, leaving cracks in its walls.
In 1919, Walter M. Briggs bought the property. He started the Meadowlark Dairy there, which was the first certified dairy in California. He fixed up the adobe house and used it to house his workers. The adobe served as housing until 1969, when the dairy moved its operations to Tracy.
What Happened After the Dairy?
In 1966, the Briggs company sold the farm and adobe to the Great Southwest Corporation. This company wanted to build an amusement park on the site. However, local residents strongly disagreed with this plan, and it was stopped.
The company then sold the land to a real-estate development company. Most of the land was turned into lots for new houses. But the adobe house, which had been named a California Historical Landmark in 1954, along with a few acres, was given to the city of Pleasanton in 1993.
The original historical marker for the adobe had some mistakes. For example, it said the house was built earlier and by Francisco Alviso's father. It also claimed that General John C. Frémont used the building as his headquarters during a battle. However, historians found that these details were not true. The adobe was actually built in 1854, and there's no proof Frémont was ever there. Because of these errors, the old historical marker has been removed.
The current plaque at Alviso Adobe Community Park correctly states that the building was built in 1854. It also shows a photo from around 1900 of the Alviso Adobe with a tenant farmer family who lived there.
When the city planned the park in 2000, they wanted to build a 39-foot copy of a grain silo from the old Meadowlark Dairy. But people living nearby didn't like this idea. So, the city changed the plan and removed the silo from the park design.
See Also
Images for kids
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The Alviso adobe
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Plaque at the Alviso Adobe Community Park, Pleasanton, CA
