Editing Brentwood, California (section)

==History==
[[File:José_Noriega_(Mayor_of_San_Jose).jpg|thumb|left|Don [[José Noriega]], a wealthy [[Californio]] ranchero, was granted [[Rancho Los Méganos]] in 1835, covering all of modern Brentwood.]]
Brentwood was originally laid out on land donated from property owned by [[John Marsh (pioneer)|John Marsh]], an East Contra Costa County pioneer who acquired [[Rancho Los Méganos]], the land grant that Brentwood is built upon, in 1837 from [[Jose Noriega]]. Marsh was one of the wealthiest men in California and was instrumental in its becoming independent from Mexico and part of the United States.  His letters extolling the potential for agriculture in California were published in newspapers throughout the East.  They resulted in the first wagon trains to California.  Marsh encouraged this, and allowed new arrivals to stay on his ranch until they could get settled.  [[Rancho Los Méganos]] became the terminus of the California Trail.<ref>Lyman, George D.  ''John Marsh, Pioneer: The Life Story of a Trail-blazer on Six Frontiers,'' pp. ix, 237–49, The Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, New York, 1931.</ref>  Brentwood was named after Marsh's ancestral home, the town of [[Brentwood, Essex|Brentwood]] in the [[Historic counties of England|County]] of [[Essex]], England.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gudde |first=Erwin |author2=revised by William Bright |title=California Place Names |edition=4th |year=1998 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA |isbn=978-0-520-21316-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/californiaplacen00gudd |page=46}}
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Brentwood's first post office was established in 1878.<ref name=CGN>{{California's Geographic Names|606}}</ref> The city [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] in 1948.<ref name=CGN />

Balfour, Guthrie & Co., a British investment company, purchased the John Marsh ranch in 1910. The company invested heavily in other California agricultural properties as well. In 1910, it built the Brentwood Hotel at Oak Street and Brentwood Boulevard, across from the railroad station. This replaced an earlier hotel on the same site that had burned down in 1903. The hotel was razed in 1967, and replaced by a service station.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.brentwood.ca.us/service/history/history2.cfm|title=City of Brentwood Web site, "History and Timeline"|website=brentwood.ca.us|access-date=March 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930100350/http://www.ci.brentwood.ca.us/service/history/history2.cfm|archive-date=September 30, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:BrentwoodWaterTower.jpg|thumb|Original Brentwood water tower]] The Brentwood water tower perhaps symbolizes the city's transition from a rural farm community to a modern bedroom community. This landmark on Walnut Boulevard, across the street from the Brentwood Park and Ride lot, is the tallest structure in the city. It is no longer used for its original purpose, but now serves as a [[cell phone tower]]. City water is stored in large tanks atop hills outside the city.

The city is bordered on three sides by the Contra Costa County Agricultural Core which consists of 11,000 acres of preserved and still actively productive farm land.

During the 1990s, many retail stores were built along the Brentwood/[[Antioch, California|Antioch]] border on Lone Tree Way, on both sides of [[California State Route 4|SR 4]], about {{convert|3.5|mi|km}} from downtown Brentwood. The Streets of Brentwood, an outdoor lifestyle retail center, along Sand Creek Rd opened in 2008.

The city broke ground for a new civic center in November 2009. The Mission-style architectural inspiration for City Hall, the main building, was the 1910 Brentwood Hotel. The $60 million project, completed in May 2012, includes the 58,000-square-foot City Hall and state-of-the-art City Council Chambers, a 32,000-square-foot community center, 280-space parking garage and redevelopment of the {{frac|1|2}}-acre City Park. The community center also includes arts and crafts rooms as well as studios for dance classes and community exercise programs. The center received a [[Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design]] silver certification for amenities such as green roofs, biosales, permeable paving and infiltration planters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.brentwood.ca.us/brentwoodCivicCenter/index.cfm|title=City of Brentwood Web site|website=brentwood.ca.us|access-date=March 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730013639/http://www.ci.brentwood.ca.us/BrentwoodCivicCenter/index.cfm|archive-date=July 30, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> City departments began moving into the new facility in October 2011, and the former city hall was demolished during November 2011.