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Early history

The recorded history of the Fremont area began on June 6, 1797, when Mission San José was founded by the Spaniard Father Fermín de Lasuén. The Mission was established at the site of the Ohlone village of Oroysom. The tribe lived between present-day San Francisco and Monterey and more lands eastward. They lived in dome-shaped shelters made out of redwood bark or woven tule. They were primarily hunter-gatherers; men hunted and trapped waterfowl, rabbits, deer, elk, and bears, whilst women gathered nuts, berries, and root vegetables. The Ohlone tribe lived beside rivers and estuaries because of the natural resources like fish and shellfish. In warm weather, men wore mostly nothing; in the winter, they wore animal hide or feather capes. Other than the weather, ceremonies also decided what the Ohlone men wore. The women wore deerskin aprons over skirts made of tule or shredded bark.

Until 1769, the tribe lived peacefully but Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived in California to expand Spanish dominion in the Americas and convert the Native Americans to Catholicism. The Ohlone people weren't intimidated by the Franciscan priests, who welcomed them into their missions to live and work. Before missions, the Natives used tools made of stone, animal bones, and wood. The missionaries taught them how to make metal tools and weapons and priests also showed them how to make adobe bricks. The bricks were then used to build missions rather than for the tribe to utilize. The Spaniards brought cattle, pigs and sheep and encouraged the Ohlone to give up hunting and gathering to try farming and ranching instead. Living in the missions meant Ohlone people were forced into converting to Christianity and told to forget the superstitious beliefs that connected them to nature. Along with that, overpopulation caused food shortages and the Spanish brought diseases to the tribe, causing a lot of deaths and trouble that made an impact on a lot of lives.

On their second day in the area, the Mission party killed a grizzly bear in Niles Canyon. The first English-speaking visitor to Fremont was the renowned trapper and explorer Jedediah Smith in 1827. The Mission prospered, eventually reaching a population of 1,887 inhabitants in 1831. The influence of the missionaries declined after 1834 when the Mexican government enacted secularization.

José de Jesus Vallejo, brother of Mariano Vallejo, was the grantee of the Rancho Arroyo de la Alameda Mexican land grant. His family was influential in the Fremont area in the late colonial era and owned and built a flour mill at the mouth of Niles Canyon. In 1846 the town's namesake John C. Frémont led a military expedition to map a trail through Mission Pass for reaching the Pacific coast and to take possession of California from Mexico for the United States.

The Fremont area grew rapidly at the time of the California Gold Rush. A town called Mission San José grew up around the old mission, with its own post office from 1850. Agriculture dominated the economy with grapes, nursery plants and olives as leading crops. In 1868 the 6.8-magnitude Hayward earthquake on the Hayward Fault collapsed buildings throughout the Fremont area, ruining Mission San José and its outbuildings. Until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake caused its destruction, the Fremont area's Palmdale Winery was the largest in California. The ruins of the Palmdale Winery are still visible near the Five Corners in Irvington at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Osgood.

From 1912 to 1915, the Niles section of the Fremont area was the earliest home of California's motion picture industry (see Essanay Studios). Charlie Chaplin filmed several movies in the Fremont area, most notably The Tramp.

Incorporation

Fremont was incorporated in 1956 under the leadership of Wally Pond, chair of the incorporation committee, when five towns in the area, Irvington, Centerville, Mission San José, Niles, and Warm Springs, came together to form a city. Glenmoor Gardens, the largest subdivision in Fremont, was under construction in the area, by developers Ralph E. Cotter Jr., James R. Meyer, civil engineer Fred T. Duvall, and contractors James L. Reeder, and Robert H. Reeder. When the Glenmoor Gardens Homeowners Association (GGHA) was incorporated, in March 1953, there were no more than 75 houses in the subdivision. It was probably the first such organization in the Fremont area; in its scope and structure. The five-member board of directors (which included James Meyer and James Reeder) was set up to oversee a full range of services, from police and fire protection to street maintenance (which later became the purview of the city government).

Fremont became more industrialized between 1953 and 1962. The first Fremont post office opened in 1956. A boom in high-tech employment in the 1980s to the late 1990s, especially in the Warm Springs District, caused rapid development in the city and linked the city with the Silicon Valley. The Apple factory where the first Mac computer was manufactured was located in Fremont; production ceased in 1993. Other semiconductor and telecommunications firms soon opened in the city, including Cirrus Logic, Asyst Technologies, Mattson Technology, Lam Research, Premisys Communications, and Nextlink California. Approximately 750 high-tech companies had offices, headquarters, or production facilities in Fremont by 1999. These firms included fifteen of the top one hundred fastest-growing public companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and eighteen of the top fifty companies in the East Bay. The high-tech growth in Fremont continues today and is a major industry for the city.

The General Motors automotive assembly plant in South Fremont was the town's largest employer, and Fremont was known for its drag strip. In the 1980s, the plant became a joint venture automotive assembly plant of Toyota and General Motors, and was renamed NUMMI. Toyota and NUMMI shut down its operations in early 2010. Part of the plant was acquired in June 2010 by Tesla Motors as its primary production plant, known as the Tesla Factory.

Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer, was promoted in 2010 by President Barack Obama as a model for government investment in green technology after his administration approved a $535 million Department of Energy loan guarantee and the company built a $733 million state-of-the-art robotic facility, but in 2011 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and laid off 1,000 workers. Data storage company Seagate Technology, incorporated in the Republic of Ireland with executive offices in Cupertino, acquired the former Solyndra building, which serves as Seagate's headquarters as of 2020.

Homeless criminalization

In May 2024, the city council began considering a "Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness" in the city, with a five-year time span, in order to reduce the homeless population. Many of the homeless in the city live in their vehicles, but the city's Safe Parking measures of having designated parking lots for homeless people to stay were seen as only a temporary solution. This led to consideration in September 2024 of new rules that would place a ban on camping on public property and the use of large vehicles like RVs in residential areas. This would include a requirement for all parked vehicles in the city to be moved after 72 hours in a location. It was noted by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Sarah Ravani that the city's previous efforts to actually help the homeless population by expanding housing options, among other methods, had resulted in a 21% reduction over the prior year in the number of people that were homeless without needing municipal punishments to be enacted.

These bans were enacted by the city council in February 2025, with additional expansions to the proposed ordinance. The updated version included a $1000 fine and a misdemeanor criminal charge with six months jail time against anyone found "aiding, abetting, or concealing" members of the homeless population. The definition of these terms was not clarified in the ordinance. Over a dozen local civil rights groups and community organizations sent a letter petition against the ordinance, noting that the camping provision effectively made it illegal to be homeless anywhere in the city and the added abetting provision made it illegal for anyone to help homeless people by providing shelter themselves. David Bonaccorsi from the Fremont for Everyone organization pointed out that the growing number of jobs in the city due to the expanding tech center had not included an adequate expansion in housing, meaning many of the people obtaining the new jobs had no housing available to purchase in the first place. The following month, the city council voted to remove the "aiding and abetting" provision from the ordinance after groups filed a lawsuit challenging the ordinance, while leaving the camping ban in effect.

Centerville District

Centerville was formerly the main town in Washington Township. Centerville is located at 37°33′15″N 121°59′57″W. It lies at an elevation of 52 feet (16 m). Centerville was started by George Lloyd who started selling cold beer to stage passengers from a tent in 1850. Capt. George Bond set up a general store and the name Centerville was chosen. The post office opened Centreville post office in 1855 and changed the spelling to Centerville in 1893. The Centerville Pioneer Cemetery contains the burial places of many of the city's founding pioneers.

Centerville can be traced back to its native American roots. Spanish, Mexican, Italian, Portuguese and Swiss (Swiss Park), peoples were among the early settlers that contributed greatly to the growth of Centerville.

Early Centerville was a quiet farming community, which consisted of large Spanish land grants divided into smaller farms. The Freitas Ranch on Thornton Ave was probably the largest of the working farms. There were acres of apricot along with other fruit and nut orchards and large fields of various types of fresh produce.

After President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized military commanders to exclude "any or all persons" from certain areas in the name of national defense, the Western Defense Command began ordering Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to present themselves for "evacuation" from the newly created military zones. This included many Centerville farming families.

Centerville was also a main stop for the early railways. This gave the local farmers a way to quickly get their produce to market. With the access to railway service there was once a large cannery on Baine Ave. west of Fremont Ave. (now Peralta) next to the tracks. In 1959, the cannery was destroyed in the largest fire in Fremont's history. The fire lasted for two days, and effectively put an end to what had been the largest employer in Centerville at the time. The cannery was never rebuilt.

Housing developments began to appear in the area after World War II. Most of the early housing stood along Fremont Blvd from Decoto Road south to Washington High school, along Thornton Ave from Fremont Blvd west to the Newark city border, and along Peralta Blvd from Fremont Blvd to Niles.

For city planning purposes, Centerville was enlarged to encompass most of the north central residential section of Fremont, from Mowry Ave to Decoto Rd, from I-880 to the BART line. This Centerville community plan area includes the sprawling subdivisions, developed in the 1950s and 1960s, of Glenmoor Gardens, bounded by Central Avenue, Fremont Boulevard, Mowry Avenue, and the I-880 freeway. and the Cabrillo Park subdivision bound by Thornton Ave, Fremont Blvd, Decoto Road and the I-880 freeway. Also the Brookvale subdivisions, the Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area, and part of Parkmont. The area is served by two high schools, Washington High School established in 1892, which for a long time was the only high school in the area and American High School established in 1972. It also has two middle schools, Centerville Middle School and Thornton Middle School, which now stands on the old main site of the Freitas ranch.

Niles District

The former town of Niles is physically divided from other parts of Fremont and neighboring Union City by Mission Boulevard (State Route 238) to the east and north, Alameda Creek to the south, Union Pacific Railroad to the west and southeast, and the Quarry Lakes to the southwest. The hills of Niles are lower than those of the area south of the Alameda Creek in Mission San Jose. Old Town Niles features its own library, post office, and silent movie theater as well as a large number of antique and craft stores. Niles is located at 37°34′44″N 121°58′40″W. It lies at an elevation of 112 feet (34 m).

The community, once called Vallejo Mills, got its name from the Central Pacific Railroad's Niles junction and station, opened in April 1870 as part of the First transcontinental railroad and named after their railroad attorney and stockholder Addison Niles, who became associate justice on the California Supreme Court two years later. A post office was opened at Niles on Vallejo Street in 1873.

Niles was the West Coast home (1912–1916) of one of the first motion picture companies, Essanay Studios. Charlie Chaplin and Broncho Billy Anderson filmed some of their most famous silent movies in Niles and the scenic Niles Canyon that stretches between Niles and Sunol. The nonprofit Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum offers both artifacts of Niles' early years and, each Saturday evening, screenings of early-twentieth-century silent films, many of which were filmed locally.

The Niles Canyon Railway runs along Alameda Creek in Niles Canyon and carries passengers on weekend excursions, including a holiday "train of lights", which is extremely popular – tickets for these trains typically sell out by early October. The Niles Canyon Railroad has a small but well-maintained collection of historic rail stock.

Part of historic Niles is Mayhew Spring, also known as Mayhew's Sulphur Spring, which was owned by H.A. Meyhew and located 600 feet (180 m) north of the Niles railroad station. In September 1869, four months after the famous golden spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah, the Central Pacific Railroad completed the transcontinental rail link between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay, with trains switching at the San Jose junction in the canyon. Central Pacific then built a junction in the valley and opened it in April 1870 as Niles.

Also part of Niles is 1909 Niles Junction built by the Western Pacific Railroad, located at 37°34′35″N 121°58′17″W and situated at an elevation of 79 ft (24 m).

Irvington District

The Irvington District area, once the town of Irving, has cycled through many name changes over time. In the early 1850s two emancipated black men were traveling with E.L. Beard through California, reputedly in search of a fortune. The former slaves noticed the busy traffic at the crossroads of what is today the "Five Corners" intersection. Although now gone, there were two embarcaderos (water crossings) at this area. One of these crossings had a ferry. Realizing the financial opportunity of the area, the former slaves constructed the first building at the cross roads, a tavern with an inn. This tavern was later known as Dave's Saloon. This corner, today the intersection of Fremont and Washington Boulevards, Union and Bay Streets, is now commonly known as "Five Corners" or Irvington Square. Irvington Square's marker, Irvington Plaza park, is located at 37°31′22″N 121°58′18″W. The inn and several of the other original buildings were demolished by the city of Fremont in the early 1980s.

In 1871 Washington College, the first industrial educational institution in California was established in Washington township near the crossroads. As a result, the US Postal Service established a post office called Washington Corners at the college in 1870, which became the name of the settlement on the 1878 Alameda County map of Washington Township.

In 1884, realizing the need for a proper town name, local inhabitants selected the name of Irving. The name was chosen in honor of Judge Irving, the local traveling circuit judge of the time. Later, when the railroad came through the area, the published train schedule pamphlets erroneously listed the Irving train depot as "Irvington." The town petitioned the railroad about the error. The railroad company notified the town that it was too costly for them to replace the train schedule pamphlets (over $100,000); and in 1887 following the recommendation, the people of Irving changed the town name to Irvington.

The Irvington district has two main neighborhoods: Irvington Woods and the Irvington Square. The neighborhood is ethnically mixed and is primarily working class. For city planning purposes, the Irvington area was enlarged to encompass most of the south central residential section of Fremont, from Auto Mall Parkway to Mowry Avenue, from I-880 to roughly the BART line (excluding the Central District described below). This Irvington community plan area includes the Sundale neighborhood, the South Sundale neighborhood, 28 Palms, Blacow, and Grimmer subdivisions. The area is served by three high schools: Irvington High School, Robertson High School, and John F. Kennedy High School.

The Irvingtonian period of North American mammals is named for this district due to the fossil sequence excavated here.

Mission San Jose District

At the time of the California Gold Rush, a boom town grew up around the old Mission, to equip and transport 49ers overland to the gold fields. A post office was opened at Mission San Jose in 1850.

The district, like Niles, is surrounded by hills. The hills are higher and steeper than Niles, with the highest points being on the Mission Ridge. Mission San Jose district lies close to the northern two peaks, Mission Peak and Mount Allison. The height of the peaks range from 2,517 to 2,604 ft (794 m), and they see some snowfall occasionally. Mission Peak is a popular hiking spot and attracts residents from all over the East Bay.

Fremont's community college, Ohlone College, is situated one block away from the mission and serves over 12,000 students.

Mission San Jose has the highest concentration of Asian Americans in Fremont – over 50% of the population as of the 2000 census. The local high school is Mission San Jose High School, ranked as the 93rd best high school in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, as well as 13th in California (as of 2024). The median family income for the Mission San Jose area (ZIP code 94539) exceeded $114,595 in 2005. Owing to an influx of professionals and other affluent families seeking access to the top-performing local public schools, Mission San Jose's median home value reached $831,000 in 2006, earning the community a rank of 237 on Forbes magazine's list of the 500 most affluent communities in the United States.

Nestled at the base of Fremont's rolling hills is the Mission San José, one of the oldest of the Spanish missions in California, for which this district is named. The church building that exists today is a reconstruction (dedicated in 1985 for daily Mass and tours) of the original 1809 adobe church that was destroyed by the 1868 Hayward-fault earthquake. One side of the original mission quadrangle remains, housing a museum. Mission San Jose is located at 37°31′59″N 121°55′13″W; and lies at an elevation of 305 feet (93 m).

2010

The 2010 United States census reported that Fremont had a population of 214,089. The population density was 2,443.7 inhabitants per square mile (943.5/km2).

The Census reported that 212,438 people (99.2% of the population) lived in households, 969 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 682 (0.3%) were institutionalized.

There were 71,004 households, out of which 31,070 (43.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 45,121 (63.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 7,070 (10.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 3,382 (4.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,779 (3.9%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 444 (0.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 11,576 households (16.3%) were made up of individuals, and 3,697 (5.2%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.99. There were 55,573 families (78.3% of all households); the average family size was 3.36.

The population was spread out, with 53,216 people (24.9%) under the age of 18, 15,610 people (7.3%) aged 18 to 24, 66,944 people (31.3%) aged 25 to 44, 56,510 people (26.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 21,809 people (10.2%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males.

There were 73,989 housing units at an average density of 844.5 units per square mile (326.1 units/km2), of which 71,004 were occupied, of which 44,463 (62.6%) were owner-occupied, and 26,541 (37.4%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.5%. 136,606 people (63.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 75,832 people (35.4%) lived in rental housing units.

Fremont has a large Deaf community, in large part because it is home of the Northern California campus of the California School for the Deaf. The school district is called the Fremont Unified School District which also serves parts of Union City and Hayward.

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History

Early history

Incorporation

Homeless criminalization

Geography

Centerville District

Niles District

Irvington District

Mission San Jose District

Warm Springs District

Central district

North Fremont District

South Fremont District

Bayside Industrial District

Hill Area District

Climate

Demographics

2020

2010

Economy

Top employers

Culture and recreation

Media

Government

Grand jury investigation of record-keeping

District-based elections

Politics

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Colleges and universities

Public libraries

Transportation

Future rail

Sister cities

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