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Above Golden hills of the Tri Valley area. Below: Hacienda Business Park entry. D R A F T M A S T E R P L A N F O R T H E O P T S HISTORICAL NOTES ON DOWNTOWN PLEASANTON Beginning about 8,000 years ago, the Ohlone Indians were probably the first people to live in the Tri -Valley area, including the Pleasanton area. They apparently traded with members of the Miwok (from the east) and Costanoan (from the west) groups of native Americans. The first Spanish soldiers and missionaries from Mexico explored the area in the 1770's, when the Presidio and Mission Dolores were established in San Francisco. In 1797, the Mission San Jose was opened, and the valley in which Pleasanton is now located became pasture supporting the production of leather for the mission. When Mexico closed the California missions in 1835, the area known today as Pleasanton was included in a land grant awarded to the Bernal fam- ily. In the 1850's, California became a state of the Union, Alameda County was formed, and the state's land grants were divided or reduced in size. Around the settlement that had come to be known as Alisal (later, Pleasanton), grain and hay production became important commercial activities. By 1870, the railroad had been built through Alisal, and the area's landowners began surveying, subdividing property, and forming a town. Farming included vineyards, orchards, and the production of vegetables. Rapid settlement took place over the next twenty years, including the construction of a new school building (at First Abbie Sts.) and the town's first churches. In the downtown area there were two general stores and a variety of shops, as well as blacksmiths, hotels, saloons, and a laundry. In 1894 the town was incorporated, and from that time until the 1940's, the population was roughly 1,500. BACKGROUND 8