Dougherty (also, Amador's, Amador Valley, and Dougherty Station) was an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Alam ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was associated with two separate areas near

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, the first at an elevation of . James Witt Dougherty purchased the land in and around what is now Dublin, CA, in 1852. The land included a two-story adobe building that formerly belonged to Jose Maria Amador. A community grew up around the adobe and associated ranch, and was first called Amador's and Amador Valley after

Jose Maria Amador Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

the original owner of

Rancho San Ramon (Amador) Rancho San Ramon (St. Raymond Ranch in Spanish) was a Mexican land grant in the southern San Ramon Valley of present-day Contra Costa County, California. Rancho San Ramon (Pacheco-Castro) was adjacent in the northern San Ramon Valley. It was gi ...

. Dougherty built a hotel near the adobe and at the crossroads of two important local roads. One road went north–south and connected communities from Martinez south to Mission San Jose. The other road went east–west and connected the San Francisco Bay area with communities such as Livermore, Stockton and the California Central Valley. Dougherty obtained the post office contract in 1860 and used the name Dougherty Station. The post office name was shortened to Dougherty in 1896 and it closed in 1908. The second Dougherty was a platted area about two miles east of the original location. It was established by Charles Medley Dougherty, the son of James Witt Dougherty, and named after the family. It was designed to take advantage of an extension of the Southern Pacific Railroad connecting from San Ramon to Pleasanton in the early 1900s. Besides a railroad platform, there may never have been any homes or businesses constructed in the planned community. The area, Dougherty, continued to appear on some maps throughout the Twentieth century and may still be found on some online maps.

References

Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Alameda County, California Populated places established in 1852 1852 establishments in California {{AlamedaCountyCA-geo-stub