Dresser is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Alameda County

Alameda County, California

Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Its ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 is 94536 and its area code is 510

Area code 510

North American area code 510 is a California telephone area code which covers most eastern Bay Area cities in Alameda County , and western Contra Costa County...

.

Geography and background

It is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad

Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

 3 miles (4.8 km) north-northeast of downtown Fremont

Fremont, California

Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...

, at an elevation of 102 feet (31 m). The city's name was Merienda until 1915, and then was Alston until 1957. It was established as a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1923 to serve the California Pressed Brick Company in Niles Canyon

Niles Canyon

Niles Canyon is a canyon in the San Francisco Bay Area formed by Alameda Creek. The canyon is largely in an unincorporated area of Alameda County, while the western portion of the canyon lies within the city limits of Fremont and Union City...

.

Current status

The area as indicated on Google Maps as the center of Dresser is currently not accessible from Niles Canyon Road, with a locked gate and numerous "Keep Out" signs posted. There are no signs indicating that the town even used to exist behind the gate. By looking at recent satellite imagery of Dresser (e.g., Google Maps), one can see ruins of buildings and three standing smokestacks that used to comprise the California Pressed Brick Company. Reportedly, the location has been used for partying since it was closed in the 1990s. The adjacent "Secret Sidewalk" (Niles Canyon Aqueduct) is also used for such purposes.

See also

• Merienda, California
  Merienda, California
  Merienda is a former settlement in Alameda County, California. It lay at an elevation of 112 feet . It still appeared on maps as of 1906. In 1917, the people moved to Alston, which in turn became Dresser....
  
  
• Niles Canyon
  Niles Canyon
  Niles Canyon is a canyon in the San Francisco Bay Area formed by Alameda Creek. The canyon is largely in an unincorporated area of Alameda County, while the western portion of the canyon lies within the city limits of Fremont and Union City...
  
  
• Niles Canyon Railway
  Niles Canyon Railway
  The Niles Canyon Railway is a heritage railway running through Niles Canyon, between Sunol and the Niles district of Fremont in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, USA. The railway is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Niles Canyon Transcontinental...
  
  
• Sunol Water Temple
  Sunol Water Temple
  The Sunol Water Temple is located at 505 Paloma Way in Sunol, California. Designed by Willis Polk, the 59 foot high classical pavilion is made up of twelve concrete Corinthian columns and a concrete ring girder that supports the conical wood and tile roof...
  
  

External Links

• Sunol Aqueduct
• Photos of the brick factory: view 1, view 2, view 3
• Anecdotes of the Secret Sidewalk