History of Land Before Cañada College

Olives seem to be the main subject at Cañada College these days as we are celebrating our 33 years under the olive trees. Students are studying olives, scanning olives, drawing and painting olives, sampling olive recipes, decorating store windows with olive branches, and just kicking back under some of the 350 olive trees that dot the Peninsula hilltop community college campus-Cañada College.

Why olives? Because, back when cattle used to roam across Sand Hill Road and cowboys rounded them up weekly with the help of Australian cattle dogs, they headed up to munch grass at the "Olive Orchard" now known as Cañada College. Over 400 to 500 cattle were guided by three or four cowboys who drove them across Whiskey Hill Road and Cañada Road to the site of the 131 acre college which was then a ranch, according to some, and a farm, according to others. However, all are in agreement that the ranch or farm, was covered with olive trees. When the college was built in the late sixties, the olive trees were carefully removed during construction and planted temporarily in a long trench under the protective custody of the San Mateo Community College District's Buildings & Grounds experts. The olive trees were replanted in time for the college's official opening in 1968. Olive trees still number in the hundreds, when last counted by energized Cañada students.

Thirty three years later, the trees are thriving and are the stars of an entire college/community celebration festival tabbed the "Arts & Olive Festival".

The graceful leathery olive trees bearing gray-green leaves that seem to flash silver in the sun, haven't changed much in thirty two years. But the Italian-villa style college has charged into the future with a brand-new look for its classes and programs that reflect an evolution in a changing educational world.