Alvarado (formerly, New Haven) is a former settlement in and former county seat of

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 ...

, now part of Union City. It was located north-northwest of downtown

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

. In 1851, Henry C. Smith founded the town of New Haven, named after his father's home town of

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

. In 1853, the town amalgamated with a nearby town called Alvarado, and became the county seat of the newly formed

. Alvarado was named for Juan Alvarado, Mexican Governor of California from 1836 to 1842. The first post office opened in 1853. On January 13, 1959, Alvarado and

Decoto Decoto is a neighborhood of Union City, California originally established as a separate community. It is located north-northwest of downtown Newark, along California State Route 238. History In 1867, Ezra Decoto, a local landowner sold land to ...

voted to incorporate as

Union City, California Union City is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area in Alameda County, California, United States, located approximately south of Oakland, from San Francisco, and north of San Jose. Incorporated in 1959, combining the communities of Alvara ...

. Though New Haven and Alvarado are both now part of Union City, the name of New Haven lives on in the

New Haven Unified School District New Haven Unified School District (also known as NHUSD) is a public school district serving approximately 11,000 kindergarten through 12th-grade (K-12) students at 11 schools in Union City and South Hayward, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The ...

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