Editing Ashland, California (section)

==History==
Construction of the Oakland-San Leandro-Hayward Electric Railway began in 1891. By 1892 14.3 miles of track ran along what was then known as County Road, today's East 14th Street/Mission Boulevard between Hayward and Oakland. Electric train cars ran every half hour from 5 a.m. until midnight daily. Side feeder lines ran from Ashland Junction (near 150th St. and East 14th St.) along Telegraph, what today is known as Hesperian Boulevard and along Ashland Avenue to Lewelling Boulevard. Over time, the value of agricultural products which the area was famous for declined and the value of real estate rose, thus Ashland's urban/suburban character developed when farmlands and orchards were subdivided into town lots of about one acre each. New communities and subdivisions sprang up along the rail line including Ashland and Haywards Park Homestead (between Foothill Boulevard and Mission Boulevard bordered by Mattox Road and Grove Way).

San Lorenzo Grove, an eight-acre natural park located on today's Tracy Street, became a popular recreation destination for the region's community. The park was owned by the Oakland-San Leandro-Hayward Electric Railway and included a dance pavilion, picnic grounds, playing fields, concession area and an outdoor bandstand. The park operated until 1917 when it was converted to apricot orchards then into single family residential subdivisions.

World War II brought a large number of new people to unincorporated Alameda County and after the war; large scale "cookie-cutter" housing subdivisions replaced most of the remaining agriculture, nurseries, and greenhouses. Ashland's primary residential development took place during the post-war period; and after the closing of the Oakland-San Leandro-Hayward Electric Railway, Ashland remains mostly car dependent.

The Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880) along with Interstate 238 opened in the late 1950s thus bisecting Ashland at Mission Boulevard continuing to Hesperian Boulevard. The creation of Interstate 238 has had the greatest effect on Ashland.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alameda County |first=Planning Department |date=July 1, 2023 |title=Preliminary Cultural Resources Survey Ashland & Cherryland Districts |url=https://www.acgov.org/cda/planning/landuseprojects/documents/ashlandcherrylandsurvey.pdf |access-date=July 1, 2023 |website=acgov.org}}</ref>

Ashland developed as a residential suburb in the 1940s.<ref name="CGN">{{California's Geographic Names|597}}</ref>

Ashland is named after the [[Oregon ash]] tree which grew in abundance along the San Lorenzo creek and throughout the community.<ref name="CGN" />

The [[San Lorenzo Creek]] is the southern border of Ashland<ref>{{cite web|url=http://communitylocator.acgov.org/|access-date=12 February 2021|website=Community Locator|publisher=Alameda County}}</ref> and boasts the oldest bay tree in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-04-30 |title=In honor of Arbor Day, some notable trees are worth seeing in the Bay Area |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2004/04/30/in-honor-of-arbor-day-some-notable-trees-are-worth-seeing-in-the-bay-area/ |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=East Bay Times |language=en-US}}</ref>