This is the site of the beginning of Redwood City!

— The Path of History —

You are standing over what was once Redwood City's original waterfront, made up of creeks, tidal basins, and a fresh-water slough, providing the start of lumber, shipping and shipbuilding trades for the area. The tidal basins south of Bradford Street have since been filled, channeled, and culverted to serve contemporary needs and development. The green, decorative pavers on the street in front of you mark where Redwood Creek passes under Broadway.

The Embarcadero was comprised of two basins - an inner basin (the creek), which was very shallow, and an outer basin (the slough), with deeper water closer to the bay. See map above

A few buildings on Main Street and Broadway, dating from the waterfront's active days, still stand and mark the limits of Redwood Creek and the Embarcadero. Among them are the Diller-Chamberlain Store (726 Main St.), the San Mateo Bank-Fizpatrick Building complex (Broadway and Main Street), and the Sequoia Hotel. In 1850, logging operations in the hills near Redwood City brought the logs down to a fresh-water slough (named appropriately Redwood Creek) where they were tied together as rafts and floated down to the bay, and on to San Francisco.

In 1851, the keel for the schooner "Redwood" was laid at Redwood Creek. It launched in 1852, the first of many vessels to be built in the area.

The lumber trade, shipping and shipbuilding became major industries, and by the end of 1853 a permanent community arose along the banks of Redwood Creek. As the area developed, lots were laid out along the east side of the creek, with the well traveled roadway in front of these lots becoming Main Street. Bridge Street (eventually becoming Broadway) was a short roadway that included a wooden drawbridge, providing access to the wharves and businesses on the west side of the creek.

Simon M. Mezes, an attorney who was the first to subdivide the townsite, named the settlement Mezesville after he acquired the land from the Arguello family in 1850. However, the name wasn't popular with the community, and was eventually renamed for the industry of its resource, Redwood City.

The decline of shipping from the Embarcadero began with the completion of the San Francisco - San Jose Railroad in 1864. The last active wharf closed in 1916.

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Show me all markers in:  Redwood City, CA  |  San Mateo County  |  94063  |  California  |  United States of America

Eureka Corner
The Pioneer Store
Diller-Chamberlain Gen. Store/American Hotel-American House/Sequoia Hotel/Bank of San Mateo County
Alhambra Theater
Former Site of Sequoia High School
Sequoia Union High School
New Sequoia/Fox Theatre
Redwood City War Memorial
Fox Theater
Old San Mateo County Courthouse

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