It is clear, from earliest Hayward pioneer lore, that local settlers survived through hard work and ingenuity. Yet, they also had a creative spark.

The name of one of Hayward’s main thoroughfares, Hesperian Boulevard, came from the Greek and Latin word "hesperia," which refers to western lands. The word was adapted into English, and came to be a poetic term for any idyllic western locale.

When the Spanish padres founded Mission San Jose in 1797, the area that now is Hayward was set aside as the mission’s grazing land.

By 1838, Don Guillermo Castro had started building his ranch at Mission Boulevard and D Street, later the site of Hayward’s first city hall, built in 1930.

In 1851, William Hayward came to the area and moved to what is now the corner of A and Main streets, where he pitched a tent and opened a merchan dise store. He eventually added a hotel and restaurant where mail was delivered.

The town commonly became known as Haywards or Haywood. Castro began selling lots around his home in 1852, donating land for schools and other public uses and plotting the town.

The first railroad came to the town in 1865, attracting hundreds of immigrants to the area. Hayward was incorporated in 1876.

It remained a sleepy farm community, with a population of about 5,000, until the late 1940s and 1950s. With World War II over, and population increasing in the Bay Area and the state, commercial growth occurred on the Foothill Boulevard strip and thousands of houses replaced farm and orchard land in Hayward.

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http://www.csuhayward.edu/
[California Sate University Hayward]

http://www.haywardadult.k12.ca.us/
[Hayward Adult School]