A monthly column in the Tri-City Voice
Starting in 2024, the Tri-City History column will start going through the alphabet, with historical photos on a shared theme for each letter.
Have a topic or idea you’d like us to explore? Email us at info@museumoflocalhistory.org.
- Columns 1-6: Academia, Barns, Casks, Drag Strip, Eateries, Flowers
- Columns 7-12: Gardens, Horses, Industry, Japanese, Kitchen, Library
- Columns 13-18: Maps, Nurseries, Orchards, Panama Pacific International Exposition, Quarries, Race
- Columns 19+: Swiss, Towns
S: Swiss
No. 19: July 29, 2025: Swiss
Swiss: (noun) one of Swiss descent.
All photos courtesy of the Washington Township Museum of Local History
T: Towns
No. 20: August 26, 2025: Towns (Part 1)
Town: (noun) a compactly settled area usually larger than a village but smaller than a city.
Alvarado. Centerville. Decoto. Irvington.
Today we know them as districts, sections or areas of our larger cities—Fremont, Newark and Union City—but they were once individual towns. Independent of each other in many respects, the towns and the people who inhabited them also came together as one place, known as Washington Township. Now commonly referred to as the Tri-City Area, the southern portion of the East Bay, and the lowest geographic section of Alameda County, these eight towns still have much history left standing.
Stay tuned in September for the second half of this column.
All photos courtesy of the Washington Township Museum of Local History
