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Photograph of San Mateo County History Museum
Photograph by SPUCLA, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

San Mateo County Courthouse

Built in 1935. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. 22 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1897.

From the record

“The San Mateo County History Museum is located in downtown Redwood City, California. Housed inside the former courthouse built in 1910 for the San Mateo County Superior Court, the museum showcases the rich history of San Mateo County and the surrounding area.”

Wikipedia article San Mateo County History Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 63 National Register listings published here for San Mateo County · listed in 1977 · category: Building · built in 1935.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Broadway, Redwood City, 94063
  • When was it listed? December 1977
  • Category. building
  • Census division. San Mateo
  • When was it built? 1935
  • National Register reference number. 77000340 - 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

1897 to 1997

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering San Mateo County Courthouse, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet covering San Mateo County Courthouse, surveyed 1897

Fires near this property

233 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 233 fires within 5 miles of San Mateo County Courthouse between 1992 and 2020, burning about 96 acres in total. None started naturally. 22 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/undetermined137
Equipment and vehicle use31
Arson/incendiarism22
Smoking18
Misuse of fire by a minor10
Recreation and ceremony6
Debris and open burning5
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Other causes1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionNB HWY 280 / EDGEWOOD OF
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
6 September 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitEDGEWOOD
6 September 1996Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitOYSTER POINT
6 September 1993Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitPIPE
5 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
5 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
5 September 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Every fire recorded in San Mateo County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 42 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 42 workings within 5 miles of San Mateo County Courthouse: 21 producers, 19 past producers, 2 unknowns. 21 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Mercury, Salt. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Ideal Cement CompanyLimestone, General, ClayProducer
Redwood City OperationHaliteProducer
Granite RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Granite RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Kaiser GypsumGypsum-AnhydriteProducerSedimentary
Kaiser GypsumGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Redwood Material Co.ManganeseProducer
Redwood Material Co.ManganesePast Producer
Redwood City OperationSaltPast Producer
Redwood City PlantSaltProducer

Every working recorded in San Mateo County

Storms near this property

5 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Redwood City, the town this property stands in, in 5 storm reports between 1996 and 2022: 3 heavy rain, 1 hail, 1 lightning. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2022Heavy RainRedwood City-Redwood City with 4.47. ||12/31/2022 was the 3rd wettest in a record that goes back to 1906. The daily rainfall made up 42.8% of December 2022's rainfall.||The wettest day on record at Redwood City was back on 10/13/1962 with 4.88 inches.
August 2020LightningRedwood City-Lightning struck a redwood tree in Redwood City https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/08/16/lightning-from-rare-bay-area-thunderstorm-leaves-damage-in-its-wake/.
January 2019HailRedwood City-Small thunderstorm cell moved just south of Redwood City. Public reported small hail.
February 2015Heavy RainRedwood City-A 72 hour rainfall total of 5.43 inches was measured from Emerald Lake Hills at elevation 472 feet. This was the highest storm total in San Mateo County.
March 1996Heavy Rain (F0)Redwood City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Mateo County

Maps showing this location

22 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

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.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Lathrop Houseunder 500 feet1973
New Sequoia Theater Buildingunder 500 feet1994
Redwood City Historic Commercial Buildings0.1 miles1977
John Dielmann House0.3 miles2015
John Offerman House0.3 miles2015
Sequoia Union High School0.4 miles1995

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 77000340 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
San Mateo CountyAll 63 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • 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.