Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately 27 miles (43 km) south of San Francisco, and 24 miles (39 km) northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a port for lumber and other goods. The county seat of San Mateo County in the heart of Silicon Valley, Redwood City is home to several global technology companies including Oracle, Electronic Arts, Evernote, Box, and Informatica.[8] The city's population was 84,292 according to the 2020 census. The Port of Redwood City is the only deepwater port on San Francisco Bay south of San Francisco.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 34.7 square miles (90 km2), of which 19.4 square miles (50 km2) is land and 15.2 square miles (39 km2) (44.34%) is water. A major watercourse draining much of Redwood City is Redwood Creek, to which several significant river deltas connect, the largest of which is Westpoint Slough.
Religion[edit]
The city's main catholic church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was founded in 1887 under pastor Daniel O'Sullivan.[29]
Preserves include Bair Island Ecological Preserve (State) and the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge on the shoreline.[34] Edgewood County Park known for its wildflowers is towards the Santa Cruz Mountains with entrances off Edgewood Road and Cañada Road.
City parks include
Education[edit]
Redwood City has one state community college, Cañada College.
It has elementary and middle schools operated by both the Redwood City School District and the Belmont – Redwood Shores School District. At the high school level it is part of the Sequoia Union High School District and high schools in Redwood City that are part of this district are the comprehensive Sequoia High School, the charter schools Summit Preparatory Charter High School and Everest Public High School, and the continuation school Redwood High School. Many students from Redwood City attend another Sequoia Union school, Woodside High School, in the neighboring town of Woodside.[38] The community of Redwood Shores is served by the Belmont - Redwood Shores School District and Carlmont High School.
The Redwood City Public Library, a member of the Peninsula Library System, has a Downtown Library and two neighborhood branch locations: Redwood Shores and Schaberg.[39] The city's first library opened in 1865 and in 1900 the city passed a special tax to support a free public library. In 1904, Andrew Carnegie gave $10,000 for a new library; he gave another $6,000 to rebuild it after it was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In 1959, the Schaberg Branch Library opened, funded by a bequest in the will of Hannah Schaberg, widow of former County Clerk Herman W. Schaberg.[11] The Redwood Shores Branch Library was completed and opened to the public in 2008.[11]
Transportation[edit]
U.S. Route 101 passes through Redwood City as it goes along the Peninsula. Other major thoroughfares include El Camino Real, Route 82; Woodside Rd, Route 84, and I-280, which passes west of the city. Redwood City has a stop on Caltrain,[40] and local bus service is provided by SamTrans.[41]
Independence Day parade[edit]
Redwood City's Independence Day parade sponsored by the Peninsula Celebration Association,[44] held continuously since 1939, has been billed variously as 'The largest Independence Day Parade in California', 'West of the Mississippi', or 'in North America', claims which may or may not be accurate. The first verifiable written records of celebrations date to 1861, and 1887 for a parade.
Aguililla, Michoacan, Mexico, became a sister city in 2017, after becoming a friendship city in 2013.[49]