Newark, California, United States

🇺🇸 Newark is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Newark is an enclave, surrounded by the city of Fremont. The three cities of Newark, Fremont, and Union City make up the Tri-City Area.

Geography The western edge of the city is near the southern end of the San Francisco Bay. State Route 84 runs through the city, and continues as the Dumbarton Bridge to cross the San Francisco Bay to reach Menlo Park. Interstate 880 serves as the eastern boundary with Fremont.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.9 square miles (36 km²), of which 13.9 square miles (36 km²) is land and 0.02 square miles (0.052 km²), comprising 0.17%, is water.

History Newark was named after Newark Castle, Port Glasgow, in Scotland by J. Barr Robertson.

Before it was settled by Europeans, Newark was home to the Ohlone Native American Peoples. The first European settlement in the area was by the Spanish missionaries of Mission San José, whose territory covered much of the present-day cities of Newark, Fremont, and Union City. In 1878 land belonging to Washington Township of Alameda County was purchased by The Pacific Land Investment Company and subdivided to form the town of Newark.

Newark was incorporated in September 1955.

Economy Newark's economy is at the edge of Silicon Valley and shares its economic pattern.

Cargill Salt, previously known as Leslie Salt, operates a large salt refinery in Newark which cleans solar salt produced in salt evaporation ponds in the San Francisco Bay.

Wedgewood manufactured stoves in town from the 1910s until the 1940s. Peterbilt manufactured trucks in Newark from the early 1960s up to the mid-1980s. In 1956 Trailmobile moved its manufacturing and assembly plant from Berkeley to a new 208,000-square-foot (19,300 m²) facility at 6000 Stevenson Boulevard in Newark, adjacent to the Peterbilt truck facility. The Trailmobile plant closed in 1975 and moved to a new facility in Charleston, Illinois. From the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, A.O. Smith Corporation of Kankakee, Illinois, built residential and commercial-grade glass-lined water heaters at a large manufacturing facility located on Sycamore Street. The plant was later acquired by the National Steel Corporation, which continued water heater manufacturing at the plant until the early 1970s.

The city houses the NewPark Mall, a super-regional shopping centre, with anchor stores Macy's and Burlington Coat Factory, and over 140 other retailers. A 140,000-square-foot (13,000 m²) addition at NewPark, including restaurants, entertainment and a multiplex movie theater with IMAX, opened in late 2015.

The former Sun Microsystems site near I-880, State Route 84 and the Dumbarton Bridge, was purchased by BioMed Realty Trust and is now known as the Pacific Research Center.

Economy: Top employers According to the city's June 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city include: 1 Newark Unified School District; 2 Logitech; 3 Risk Management Solutions; 4 WorldPac; 5 VM Services Inc.; 6 Nordstrom Distribution Center; 7 Cargill Salt; 8 SMART Modular Technologies; 9 Amazon Fulfillment Center; 10 Valassis.

Culture and recreation The City of Newark has thirteen parks and sport play facilities, the George M. Silliman Community Activity and Family Aquatic Center (aka the Silliman Center). The Family Aquatic Center portion of the Silliman Center opened in the summer of 2004 and includes a 32,300-square-foot (3,000 m²) indoor swim facility specifically designed for recreation, fitness, and instruction programs for the entire family. The 11,350-square-foot (1,054 m²) Natatorium includes four separate pools, including a 45 ft × 75 ft (14 m × 23 m) Activity Pool; a 245' long Lazy River pool (with a pair of 20' tall, curving water slides); a 4-foot (1.2 m) deep, 4-lane, 25-yard (23 m) Lap Pool; and a 15-person warm-water spa.

Newark also houses a portion of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife refuge along with the city of Fremont.

Newark also hosts a festival in honor of the city's founding. "Newark Days" is a four-day Festival/Celebration that takes place every September on the Macgregor Soccer fields (adjacent to the Community centre on Cedar Blvd).

Transport Newark lies near the intersection of I-880, State Route 84, and the Dumbarton Bridge.

Newark is served by AC Transit bus system. Surrounding Fremont is the access point for most transportation services, including Fremont and Union City BART stations, and ACE and Amtrak trains.

Future rail Caltrain is planning a Dumbarton rail that would run between the Peninsula and Alameda County. This project would add four stations to the Caltrain system: Union City, Fremont-Centerville, Newark, and Menlo Park/East Palo Alto. Dumbarton Rail is currently undergoing environmental and engineering review.

Education Newark is home to a new campus of Ohlone College, a member of the California Community Colleges system. Other nearby educational centres include the University of Phoenix, ITT Institute, DeVry University, and Unitek College.

Newark has two high schools, Newark Memorial High School and Bridgepoint High School, and one junior high school, Newark Junior High School. Bridgepoint High School is an alternative high school on the MacGregor Campus which also houses Newark Adult School. Elementary schools include Kennedy, Coyote Hills (formerly Graham), Lincoln, Schilling, Birch Grove Primary (K-3)(formerly Bunker), and Birch Grove Intermediate (4-6) (formerly Milani) Schools and one private Catholic elementary-8th grade, St. Edward's Catholic School.