Thomas Sherwood (1586-1655) and his wife Alice and their family emigrated from England in 1634 and settled in Massachusetts. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in Connecticut, New York and California.
Now a fast-growing city of over 100,000, Fairfield was once the home of the Patwin Suisuni Indians, whose famous Chief Solano became one of the few native landowners in California in the 1830s. Halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento on the route to the gold fields, the town was founded by clipper ship captain Robert Waterman. A shrewd trader, Waterman offered the new Solano County government free land and cash to relocate to his new city, making it the county seat. Soon the railroad, and later the state highway, chose a route through Fairfield, creating an urban center for the beautiful agricultural valleys that surround it.
Today, rarely is a significant land acquisition accomplished without at least one private- and one public-sector participant. This book provides a detailed, inside look at those public- private partnerships.
"On August 9, 1937, the National Resources Committee submitted to the President its report on 'Our cities--their role in the national economy.' In the course of preparing this report a large volume of basic data and information was collected which could not then be included. The publication of these supplementary volumes has been undertaken to make such data and information available."--Vol. l, p. iii.