Castro Valley (CA) (Images of America). This item is unavailable.Castro Valley (CA) (Images of America)

An officer in the Mexican army bequeathed his name to the crescent-shaped basin once known as Castro's Valley. Driven to ruin by squatters, drought, and gambling debts, he sold a portion of his cattle ranch to Methodist minister Zachariah Hughes, who built a church and school in what is now Crow Canyon. The one-room, redwood school Hughes christened Eden Vale educated about 50 children until a group from the burgeoning town to the south, Hayward's, stole it by wagon in the dead of night. Undaunted, Castro Valley, delineated from its now friendly neighbors by hills, Lake Chabot, and an independent spirit, built and fully supported its own Redwood School. It has now developed into one of the most populous unincorporated areas in the United States.

A talented team from the Hayward Area Historical Society--regional historian Lucille Lorge, along with Devon Weston and Robert Phelps, Ph.D., recent graduate and assistant professor of U.S. history at CSU East Bay, respectively--has compiled a visually engaging and thoughtful volume. Drawing from the best of public and private photographic collections, they lead us from the time of the Ohlone Indians to the modern metropolitan bedroom community that is Castro Valley today.