Walnut Creek Overview
Walnut Creek is nestled beneath the breathtaking Mt Diablo and ranges and is known as the Jewel of the East Bay. Walnut Creek schools are amongst the best in the district and are often the reason parents move into the area. At the other end of the spectrum Rossmoor is an awarded retirement community centered around a golf course which caters exclusively to the 55’s and over. With great community spirit and involvement Walnut Creek may have the best mix of small town charm and big city convenience anywhere in the Bay Area. Walnut Creek CA, real estate is a wonderful choice for your next family home or investment property.
Did You Know These Walnut Creek Fun Facts?
- Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society operates one of the most mountainous and largest exclusively HO scale model railroads in the United States.
- Randy Johnson, Hall of Fame pitcher for several MLB teams, including Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks currently calls Walnut Creek home
- On a clear day, you can see the Sierra Nevadas from atop Mount Diablo.
Things to do in Walnut Creek
A hub of arts, business, dining and entertainment Walnut Creek is a destination for all throughout the East Bay and beyond and is the cultural and commercial hub of Contra Costa County.
Walnut Creek offers miles of hiking trails and scenic vistas within minutes drive to almost anything you might want to eat, drink, see or do.
Transportation to and from San Francisco or Oakland is made easy through a BART station and locally there is a free tram service to get around the downtown area.
Walnut Creek News
Range Homes works in a broad spectrum of communities and regions. We are constantly on the lookout for local news that may affect the local housing market. Check-in regularly to see if any more articles have been added that you want to read.
Walnut Creek History
Today’s Walnut Creek is located within the earlier site of four Mexican land grants. One of these land grants – measuring 18,000 acres (73 km2) – belonged to Juana Sanchez de Pacheco, who eventually passed the land down to her two grandsons. Ygnacio Sibrian, one of the grandsons, created the first roofed home in the valley in about 1850.
In December 1862 a United States Post Office was established, and the community was named “Walnut Creek”. The downtown street patterns laid out in 1871–1872 by pioneer Homer Shuey on a portion of one of his family’s large cattle ranches are still present today.
Walnut Creek began to grow with the arrival of Southern Pacific Railroad service in 1891. On October 21, 1914, the town and the surrounding area of ), were incorporated as the 8th city in Contra Costa County. A branch line of the Southern Pacific railroad ran through Walnut Creek until the late 1970s. The East Bay Regional Park District’s Iron Horse Trail, used by walkers, runners and bikers, runs over what were portions of that branch line.[11] The mainline of the Sacramento Northern Railway passed through Walnut Creek. Both railroads had stations here. Today, the Antioch–SFO/Millbrae line of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) serves Walnut Creek with a station adjacent to Highway 680.
With the 1951 opening of the downtown Broadway Shopping Center (now Broadway Plaza), Contra Costa County’s first major retail center, the city took off in a new direction, and its population more than quadrupled – from 2,460 in 1950 to 9,903 in 1960.
Walnut Creek Education Program Partner
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