Around 1849 Isaiah Woods convinced his partners in the Adams and Company bank to invest in a town and wharf at the end of Bay Road. They founded Ravenswood, reportedly named for Woods and the crows that nested nearby. Subdivisions were laid out, and it became the first planned community in what later became San Mateo County (the area was part of San Francisco County until 1856).
A wooden pier was built at present-day Cooley's Landing (see map). The only port between San Francisco and the (then) state capitol of San Jose, it was used for both passengers and cargo. A few buildings - said to include a store, school, shacks, hotels and saloons - sprang up nearby. Woods confidently predicted Ravenswood would become a hub of commerce second only to San Francisco.
Woods had good reason to speculate. At that time the most convenient way to travel down the peninsula was by steamer from San Francisco to the new "Port of Ravenswood," where passengers took a stage coach to San Jose. The Central Pacific Railroad had plans to span the bay and build the westernmost stop of its "ocean to ocean" line in the little town. A San Francisco-San Jose track was proposed, with Ravenswood being one of its four stops. And the wharf was kept busy with lumber, hay and dairy shipments to San Francisco.
In 1853, the U.S. Coast Survey, as part of its survey of San Francisco Bay, erected a sandstone pillar near the present-day intersection of Gonzaga and Notre Dame streets. For nearly 100 years it marked the east end of the Pulgas Base, used to determine property boundaries. The monument was moved in 1951 and now sits at the north end of Jack Farrell Park (see map).
Woods' plans for Ravenswood were short-lived. A number of factors combined to spell the doom of the promising port community. Oakland became the western terminus for the railroad, the trans-bay track was not laid until 60 years later, and the San Francisco-San Jose line was delayed and later bypassed the town. The state capital relocated to Sacramento. Redwood City replaced Ravenswood as the major lumber port on the peninsula. A gold mining slump threw San Francisco into a depression, and Woods' San Francisco bank failed in 1855. Legend has it Woods returned to his Woodside Mansion with embezzled funds and, after being forced at gun point to return $80,000 to an irate investor, left the country.
Ravenswood became a ghost town. A half-interest in the port which sold for $4,000 in the 1850s went for $150 20 years later. By 1870 only foundations and the wharf remained of the original town. Like other parts of San Mateo County, Ravenswood became a destination for picnickers and a weekend country retreat for San Francisco residents.