Hayward is a city in the East Bay area of Alameda County, California. It has a population of 144,186. Hayward is the sixth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda County, It is on the Bay's eastern shore, next to Union City. The San Mateo-Hayward Bridge starts there. Hayward is the 37th biggest city in California by how many people live there. The city was named after William Dutton Hayward, who opened a hotel in the area in 1852.

History
People first lived in the area as long ago as 4000 B.C.E.. These people were the Native American Ohlone people.

In the 19th century, this area became part of Rancho San Lorenzo, a Spanish land grant to Guillermo Castro in 1740.

Business
Hayward was the home to a big tomato canning company, the Hunt Brothers Cannery. The cannery was opened in Hayward in 1895 by brothers William and Joseph Hunt. The whole city smelled like tomatoes for three months of each year, when the tomatoes were ripe for picking, and they were being cooked for canning. It closed in 1981.

Hayward has many business which make things, and many large companies have their offices there. PepsiCo has a bottling factory there. The Shasta soft drink company is in Hayward. The Role-playing game publisher Chaosium was based there. The High-tech company Dust Networks is in Hayward. The Mervyns department store chain was based in Hayward. It went out of business in 2008. The All Pro Wrestling school puts on shows in Hayward.

The top businesses in the city, which hire 7% of the people in the city, are:

† these are businesses whose main office is based in Hayward

Two businesses which had a lot of people working for them in the years 2000-2001 were Mervyns, with 2,000, and Pacific Bell, with 940.

Geography

The United States Census Bureau says that the city has a total area of 63.7 square miles (165.1 km²). 45.3 square miles (117.4 km²) of it is land and 18.4 square miles (47.7 km²) of it (28.90%) is water. The Hayward Fault Zone runs through Hayward. The United States Geologic Survey has said there will probably be a big earthquake on this fault zone. This earthquake will probably cause a lot of damage. Other cities next to Hayward are Union City, Fremont and Pleasanton.

People

2010
The 2010 United States Census said that 144,186 people, 45,365 households, and 32,559 families resided in the city. There were 3,181.3 people per square mile (1,228.3/km²). The people in the city were 34.2% White (18.8% not Hispanic), 11.9% African American (11.3% not Hispanic), 1.0% Native American, 22.0% Asian, 3.1% people from islands in the Pacific Ocean, 20.8% from other races, and 7.1% from two or more races. 40.7% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 48,296 houses. 52.8% were lived in by their owner. 47.2% were lived in by people renting the houses.

Government
The mayor of Hayward is Barbara Halliday.

Getting to and from Hayward

Interstate 880 and Interstate 238 go through Hayward. BART has two stations in Hayward. Amtrak, the US passenger train, has a stop in Hayward. Hayward has a small airport, the Hayward Executive Airport.

Services
The Hayward Hall of Justice is a branch of the California Superior Court. It is the largest courthouse in Alameda County.

Schools
California State University, East Bay, once known as California State University, Hayward, is mostly located there. It is part of California State University. Hayward also has Chabot College, a community college where Tom Hanks went to school.

Parks
Hayward has four parks in the East Bay Regional Park District: the Don Castro Regional Recreation Area, Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park, the Hayward Regional Shoreline, and Garin Regional Park. Hayward has a lot of parks. The Hayward Area Recreation and Park District is the biggest in California.

Historic landmarks
Hayward has two buildings in the National Register of Historic Places: the Green Shutter Hotel and Eden Congregational Church. A third Historic Place, Meek Mansion, is close to the city. The three buildings are also California Historical Landmarks. Ukraina Honcharenko is another Historical Landmark in the city.

Notable people
Some of the people from Hayward are: the Ukrainian patriot and Greek Orthodox priest Agapius Honcharenko; football coach Bill Walsh; figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi; Treasurer of the United States Rosa Gumataotao Rios; Dwayne Johnson, also known as "The Rock", professional wrestler and actor; and Bill Lockyer, California politician, former Attorney General and State Senator, now the State Treasurer.

Sister cities
Hayward is the sister city of:
  Funabashi, Japan
  Ghazni, Afghanistan

References

Other websites

City of Hayward website
Hayward history at City website
City of Hayward Geographic Information System website , with a high quality city map
 map of Alameda County, showing Hayward's borders (Alameda County website)
Hayward Area Historical Society (HAHS) website

Cities in California
Cities in the San Francisco Bay Area
Settlements in Alameda County, California