San Ramon Village: How Volk-McLain built Dublin and San Ramon

Published May 1, 2025

Before there were bustling freeways, shopping centers, or city limits, there were just fields—miles of open ranchland and quiet orchards stretching across the San Ramon Valley. Up until 1960, the areas we now call Dublin and San Ramon were rural and unincorporated, dotted with cattle, orchards, and little else. That all changed when a pair of Los Angeles developers—Kenneth Q. Volk and Robert B. McLain—proposed San Ramon Village, a $300 million master-planned community that would transform the rural valley into the suburban communities of today.

Postcard of San Ramon Village, California, from about 1965 with the San Ramon Village Shopping Center in the foreground.

From ranches to a model city

The name “San Ramon Village” wasn’t chosen at random—it honored the area’s deep roots, particularly Rancho San Ramon, a 20,000-acre Mexican land grant awarded to José María Amador in 1834. Over time, Amador sold pieces of his land, including large portions to Leo Norris and James Witt Dougherty. These sprawling ranches, along with adjoining land from Rancho Santa Rita, formed the patchwork that would become the future city. Today, Dougherty Road still cuts through the heart of what was once Rancho San Ramon, and Santa Rita Road cuts through the heart of what was once Rancho Santa Rita.

1878 map centered on Dublin, with Rancho San Ramon (Amador) and Rancho Santa Rita (Bernal).

Though the idea of developing the land began taking shape in the 1950s, it wasn’t until 1955 that San Ramon Village, Inc. was officially formed by the Los Angeles-based San Ramon Walnut Land Company. Their ambition was clear: transform the rural San Ramon Valley into a modern suburb. In 1959, developer Carl M. Buck purchased 12,000 acres for $750 million and proposed a grand plan: 29,000 homes for over 100,000 people. However, Buck withdrew in January 1960. Within hours, Kenneth Volk and Robert McLain—who operated one of the nation’s largest homebuilding firms, Volk-McLain Communities—stepped in and acquired 4,300 acres from Buck, laying the groundwork for a massive new community stretching from Bishop Ranch in San Ramon to Arroyo Mocho in Pleasanton.

February 1960 Oakland Tribune newspaper clipping—introducing the new dream city across two counties.

The precursor: Carlton Hills in Santee

Volk-McLain did not arrive in the San Ramon Valley as an inexperienced developer. Just months earlier, the Los Angeles homebuilder had been carrying out a remarkably similar experiment in Santee, near San Diego.

In 1959, Volk-McLain began developing Fanita Ranch as Carlton Hills, a planned community envisioned for 10,000 homes on 4,300 acres. The original plan included many of the elements that would later define San Ramon Village: a golf course and clubhouse, recreation facilities, schools, churches, and shopping centers. The project also established an architectural vocabulary that would follow Volk-McLain north. A February 1959 advertisement for Carlton Hills identifies Raymond Dean Conwell, AIA, as the architect and illustrates six home designs, several of which closely resemble houses later built in San Ramon Village.

Volk-McLain advertisement for Carlton Hills Estates, February 15, 1959, announcing the grand opening of Unit 3. The ad identifies Raymond Dean Conwell, AIA, as the architect and illustrates six home designs, several resembling floor plans later built in San Ramon Village.

The project moved quickly. Volk-McLain reported approximately 1,400 sales during Carlton Hills' first year, and about 1,900 homes had been built by 1962. The pace was not without consequences. An oversupply of housing left nearly 600 homes vacant by the mid-1960s, contributing to a period of decline that eventually prompted a major renewal effort by Great Western Savings & Loan.

Carlton Hills nevertheless gave Volk-McLain something more valuable than a successful sales record: recent experience planning and building a large master-planned community from the ground up. When the opportunity arose in Northern California, the company was not learning how to do it for the first time. It was taking a recently tested development model and applying it to a much larger opportunity in the San Ramon Valley.

Volk-McLain unveils San Ramon Village

Just a month after purchasing the land, Volk-McLain unveiled their ambitious blueprint: a master-planned community with 9,200 homes across 13 neighborhoods, each centered around an elementary school. With no incorporated city to govern the land, they helped establish a community services district to provide basic utilities and services. Billed as “city-close, country-quiet,” San Ramon Village offered suburban charm with urban convenience.

Construction officially began on July 6, 1960. Just two months later, on Labor Day weekend, the first homes debuted to the public. Thousands came to see these modern ranch-style homes in a town of the future.

Volk-McLain spared no effort in promotion. Newspaper ads featured detailed artist renderings of the community-to-be—schools, motels, and shopping centers. The excitement was electric.

September 1960 San Francisco Chronicle newspaper ad—grand opening of San Ramon Village, Labor Day weekend.

September 1960 Oakland Tribune newspaper ad—artists rendering of San Ramon Village, now Dublin, with 680 slicing through the middle. The roadway connecting Alcosta Boulevard to Dublin Boulevard was not built.

Building more than homes

On November 3, 1960, the first 38 families moved into their new homes in San Ramon Village. In a grand display dubbed “Operation Big Move,” a parade of Bekins moving trucks carried the new residents from downtown Oakland, through the Caldecott Tunnel and down through Danville, marking the official start of the village’s population. In a single day, San Ramon Village went from zero residents to 175—symbolizing a broader wave of suburban migration as families left crowded East Bay cities for newer communities over the hill.

San Ramon Village included grand masonry entrance signs installed at the corners of Highway 21 (now San Ramon Road) and Amador Valley Boulevard. Just behind them, a new shopping center was rising, complete with a full-sized Safeway built to serve the growing community.

November 1960 Daily Review newspaper clipping—Operation Big Move, viewed from Donahue Drive in Dublin, with the caravan turning left from Amador Valley Boulevard.

April 1961 Daily Review newspaper clipping—a large masonry entrance sign and mature olive tree welcomed residents to San Ramon Village at San Ramon Road and Amador Valley Boulevard in Dublin, illuminated by handmade decorative lamps imported from Sweden. The signs were removed in the 1980s when San Ramon Road was widened.

Life in the new suburb

In 1961, San Ramon Village opened its first recreational center and swimming pool, a boomerang-shaped structure located in the northwestern corner of the Dublin Elementary School site on Vomac Road. The center became a hub for community gatherings and recreational activities, though it only lasted for about a decade. By the early 1970s, it was replaced by a much larger swim center near Dublin High School to accommodate the growing population and expanding needs of the community.

July 1961 Daily Review newspaper ad—the beautiful boomerang-shaped San Ramon Village Community Recreation Center.

The city that almost was

By 1963, momentum had built for incorporating the growing region into an official city. A formal proposal was submitted to Alameda County, with San Ramon Village as the centerpiece. But the effort fizzled. Pleasanton, wary of losing land and potential tax base, quickly annexed much of the proposed area. The incorporation effort failed, but the dream of a new city persisted.

January 1963 Daily Review newspaper clipping—proposed new city that covered Dublin, much of Pleasanton, all the way to Livermore.

The boom years

By the Village’s fourth anniversary, the development had exploded. More than 2,400 homes had been sold, home to about 10,000 residents. The success drew other builders as Volk-McLain sold off tracts to diversify the area’s housing stock. Infrastructure flourished—fire stations, medical centers, schools, cable TV, and even a golf course.

At the same time, major freeways (I-580 and I-680) were being built, dramatically improving commuter access and fueling even faster growth.

When San Ramon Village outgrew itself

By 1965, the population hub of San Ramon Village had shifted northward. The name “San Ramon Village” started fading, replaced simply by “San Ramon.” The heart of the community around Alcosta Boulevard and Village Parkway was envisioned as a dynamic town center. It included plans for a 300,000-square-foot indoor mall—complete with shopping, dining, a hospital, and even a BART station.

Parts of that vision came to life. Kodak’s campus with its iconic fountain became a local landmark. Safeway launched its Super Safeway concept at the new Alcosta Mall. But the grand retail vision fell short. Without freeway visibility, department stores stayed away, and the mall eventually declined. It was demolished decades later to make way for new housing.

Volk-McLain newspaper ad from January 1965 encourages buyers to shop unsold inventory at its four new home communities at a time when "Village" was dropped from the San Ramon name.

The final chapter for Volk-McLain

By early 1965, Volk-McLain had built thousands of homes across seven housing tracts. Their final effort, Country Club Estates, broke ground near San Ramon Country Club. But after just 10 homes, they left the homebuilding business altogether.

In 1967, the company sold the remaining land to Property Research Corporation and shifted its focus to industrial development. Their chapter in San Ramon and Dublin’s story had come to a close.

One village, two cities

Though San Ramon Village began as one community, it was divided by the Alameda and Contra Costa county lines. By the early 1970s, the Alameda side became the foundation for what would become modern Dublin, while the Contra Costa portion continued to evolve into the city of San Ramon.

Postcard of Dublin, California, in Spring of 1971.

Newspaper clipping showing aerial views of Dublin looking north in 1961 compared to looking east in 1974.

Each city took a different path—Dublin becoming the commercial heart of the region, with car dealerships, big box stores, and the iconic San Ramon Drive-In. San Ramon leaned more residential and business-park focused. But both shared a common origin: the dream and drive of Volk-McLain.

The village that shaped two cities

Today, Dublin and San Ramon are thriving cities—but their stories begin with a single, bold idea: that orchards and ranches could become vibrant communities. And while San Ramon Village no longer appears on maps, its spirit lives on in neighborhood names, street layouts, and the lives of thousands who call this valley home.

Explore the eras of San Ramon Village

• San Ramon Village: The founding — The first neighborhoods in Dublin
• San Ramon Village: The expansion north — Building the heart of the community
• San Ramon Village: The builder boom — When new developers took over
• San Ramon Village: The last orchard — Where suburbia met the walnut groves
• San Ramon Village: The final build-out — Completing the original vision

Sources

• The San Diego Union and Daily Bee, February 15, 1959, p. F-11 — Volk-McLain advertisement for Carlton Hills, describing the 4,300-acre Fanita Ranch development and its planned 10,000 homes, golf course, recreation facilities, schools, churches, and shopping center.
• The San Diego Union and Daily Bee, November 29, 1959, p. F-12 — report on first-year Carlton Hills sales.
• The San Diego Union and Daily Bee, August 25, 1968, p. F-8 — retrospective on Carlton Hills, including approximately 1,900 homes built by 1962, vacant homes, and the subsequent renewal effort.