The Washington Township & More

The Washington Township was township established 1853, now located in modern day Fremont, Union City and Newark. However, this area has been the home for the Ohlone people, long before the Spanish and the Americans arrived. The Ohlone consumed seeds, berries, acorns and other native plants in the area. Additionally, they also rabbits, birds, fish and other small animals. In 1797 Mission San José was founded and a replica of the building can now be found on Mission Blvd. After, the members of the Mission began converting the Ohlone Catholicism and their way of live began to slowly disappear. When Mexico won independence from Spain, a process of secularization began. The land was split in the four main segments-Rancho del Agua Caliente (bottom left), Rancho Portero de los Cerritos (top right),  Rancho Arroyo de la Alameda (not pictured), Ex-Mission San Jose (top middle)-and redistributed amongst citizens where rancheros began to raise cattle and horses. These settlements came to an end after the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo at end of the Mexican-American War was signed. Mexico ceded nearly half of its territory, giving up California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, a majority of Arizona and Colorado and pieces of Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming.  After the Treaty, American settlers migrated to the Bay Area and evicted the rancheros that lived in the area. They established stores, schools, churches and lodges as they area slowly transformed into the leading agricultural center in California. The territory of California was named a state in 1850, and the Township was officially established in 1853.