Living in Redwood City

Redwood City is the seat of San Mateo County and was the first city in the county to incorporate, in 1867. About 84,000 people live here according to the 2020 census, and the city covers nearly 35 square miles, almost half of it water, stretching from the hills near Woodside to Redwood Shores on the bay.

The city's slogan, Climate Best by Government Test, came from a 1925 newspaper contest inspired by a climate survey done before World War I. Today Redwood City is home to Oracle, its largest employer, Electronic Arts in Redwood Shores, and the only deepwater port on San Francisco Bay south of San Francisco.

The Ohlone were the first known people here, and the land later became part of Rancho de las Pulgas, granted to the Argüello family. In 1851 a deep channel on Redwood Creek, known as the Embarcadero, made it possible to float redwood logs from the nearby hills to San Francisco, and by the mid 1850s the lumber trade was booming. Attorney Simon Mezes laid out a town called Mezesville in 1854, a name that soon gave way to Redwood City.

Redwood City became the county seat when San Mateo County formed in 1856 and incorporated in 1867, the first city in the county to do so. The creek became a federally approved shipping channel in 1882, and its lumber helped rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. The 1910 courthouse, with a stained glass dome believed to be the largest on the West Coast, now houses the San Mateo County History Museum, and the 1929 Fox Theatre still hosts shows on Broadway.