Landscapes of Dublin and Pleasanton California
This is not going to be the traditional architecture stories that I have shared in past publications. Instead, I want to publish a photo essay, which means just showing photos and not having to do much work to write down what I see in them. I am working on my next post, which will be about settler colonialism and its influence on the history of my hometown, Danville. Also, this is me! You know me. Of course, I’m going to do some deep-dive research to discover a fascinating fun fact to give insight to what I documented. I haven’t researched it yet though. I plan to share that at the bottom of the essay, so you have that to look forward to.
Here’s what I ended up writing!
The history of this land as written by the victors began with Rancho San Ramon. The ranch encompassed over 16,000 acres of land between modern-day southern Danville to Dublin. It was given to José María Amador by the Mexican government in 1835. This was the beginning of this place’s modern history. The land would remain in the control of settler colonial powers into our present day. I could not figure out how Amador actually used the land, aside from assumptions of land grazing by sheep and cattle. Rather than tangible functions, the history of the ranch emphasizes its control over land, and lineage of land ownership. This hints at the value structures that exist within a settler colonial society. It started with the Mexican settlers who established the ranch and continues with the American settlers who would allow Amador to retain control over that land by requesting permission from the US Federal Government to retain control. To this day, San Ramon is an important name here. The name is on streets, buildings, schools, and even a town. But this legacy is not important to understand because of the name. The name only hints at the reality of ongoing colonization and occupation of this land that the United States Government achieved through war and genocide.
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