El Dorado Hills, California - History

History

El Dorado Hills was settled as part of the Sierra Nevada Goldfields. It included the small historic town of Clarksville (circa 1855 to 1934). The town of Mormon Island, first settled in 1848 and now submerged under Folsom Lake, bordered the northwest area of El Dorado Hills. The center of modern El Dorado Hills lies about 13 miles from the 1848 gold discovery site in Coloma, where the California Gold Rush began. The South Fork of the American River washed gold downstream, into areas now in El Dorado Hills and Folsom, but farming and ranching superseded the Gold Rush. Portions of two Pony Express routes in this area from 1860-1861 remain as modern El Dorado Hills roads. El Dorado Hills includes the longest surviving section of the Lincoln Highway, the first U.S. transcontinental highway. This section, part of the Pioneer Branch, passes through historic Clarksville and is the predecessor of the modern US 50 route.

The modern history of El Dorado Hills dates back to the early 1960s when original developer Alan Lindsey began its development as a master planned community. The original master plan, prepared by architect Victor Gruen, covered the area generally north of U.S. Highway 50, and part of the area south of US 50 now considered to be part of the community. El Dorado Hills was envisioned as a large-scale master-planned community that would be completely planned from its inception as a group of residential "villages". Other land uses in the master plan included a business park, two 18-hole golf courses, community parks, schools, a community shopping center, and small commercial centers in each village. The master plan emphasized open space between villages and opportunity for outdoor recreation.

Between the late '60s and mid-1990s growth occurred at a moderate pace as new families relocated from Sacramento, Southern California and the Bay Area. This growth consisted primarily of residential housing, as retail developments were limited to two shopping centers on the corners Green Valley & Francisco and El Dorado Hills Blvd. & Hwy. 50. Each neighborhood created during this time period was given a name and referred to as a "village" by local inhabitants. The original villages of El Dorado Hills include Park, Ridgeview, Saint Andrews, Crown, Governors, Stonegate, Franciscan, Marina, and Lake Hills Estates. In the 1980s and 1990s the major part of Lake Hills Estates north of Green Valley Road, was reorganized into Lake Forest Village, containing the neighborhoods of Waterford, The Summit, Green Valley Hills, Winterhaven, Marina Woods and Windsor Point. Additional villages that have developed subsequently include Fairchild, Sterlingshire, Highland Hills, Highland View, Bridlewood, Hills of El Dorado, Woodridge, Laural Oaks and the master-planned community of Serrano.

By the 1990 census, El Dorado Hills had an estimated population of 6,395 residents. Growth slowed during the early part of the '90s due to an economic recession throughout California, but resumed at a staggering pace by the mid 1990s. Businesses, particularly those interested in escaping the high costs of Silicon Valley began to set up operations in the El Dorado Hills Business Park south of Highway 50. In 1995, the Parker Development Company acquired 3,500 acres (14 km2) along the eastern boundary of El Dorado Hills to create Serrano, one of the largest master planned communities in Northern California. Serrano was the site of an innovative case of recycled water irrigation on a large scale. http://www.owue.water.ca.gov/recycle/WCN/Green-Grass_WCN1002.pdf

Around the year 2000, its population growth and commercial development accelerated. Development began in its Town Center area to form a true downtown business area, and its Business Park experienced increasing rates of construction and occupancy.