A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. 22 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1892.
From the record
“Ralston Hall Mansion located in Belmont, California, was the country house of William Chapman Ralston, a San Francisco businessman, a founder of the Bank of California, and a financier of the Comstock Lode. It is an opulent Italianate Villa, modified with touches of Steamboat Gothic and Victorian details.”
Wikipedia article Ralston Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 63 National Register listings published here for San Mateo County · listed in 1966 · category: Building · a National Historic Landmark.
National Register reference number.66000234- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1892 to 1997
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
18921997
Fires near this property
351 since 1992
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 351 fires within 5 miles of William C. Ralston House
between 1992 and 2020, burning about 169 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 25 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
195
Equipment and vehicle use
66
Smoking
29
Arson/incendiarism
25
Misuse of fire by a minor
15
Recreation and ceremony
7
Debris and open burning
7
Power generation/transmission/distribution
5
Other causes
1
Natural
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Date
Cause
Size
Reported by
Name on the report
9 September 2017
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
NB HWY 280 / EDGEWOOD OF
7 September 2020
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
not named
6 September 2001
Equipment and vehicle use
under an acre
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
EDGEWOOD
6 September 1996
Equipment and vehicle use
1.5 acres
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
OYSTER POINT
6 September 1993
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
PIPE
5 September 2019
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
not named
5 September 2011
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1.0 acres
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
not named
5 September 2008
Equipment and vehicle use
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
49 workings within 5 miles of William C. Ralston House: 25 producers, 22 past producers, 2 unknowns.
25 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Mercury, Calcium. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Belmont, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 2014 and 2024: 5 flood, 1 debris flow.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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