With roots dating back to California’s earliest days, Brentwood holds a special place in the state’s history.

In the late 1830s, Dr. John Marsh, the first American settler in the San Joaquin Valley, was granted land by the Mexican government and he established Rancho Los Medanos at the eastern base of Mount Diablo. Through his lengthy letters to friends and newspapers in the United States, Marsh helped spur the overland emigration to California.

In 1853, he replaced his original adobe house with a stone mansion, still standing, along Marsh Creek Road.

The first post office was established in 1878 after the coming of the San Pablo-Tulare railroad, and the town was named Brentwood, in honor of Marsh’s ancestral home. The town thrived as an agricultural center, growing wheat, and later cherries.

The city incorporated in 1948. By the 1980s, residences began to replace the farmland, but despite the growth, agriculture remains a vital presence in the expanding community.

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