EZRA DECOTO

Landlocked, Decoto became a railroad town whose growth was spurred by the arrival of the Western Pacific Railroad through Niles Canyon in 1869.  The town was formed out of land owned by the family of Ezra Decoto.  Its location made it an ideal spot for a railroad station. The year 1870 brought incorporation of Decoto and by the turn of the century, 580 people lived there.  Ezra Decoto was born in 1833 near Montreal, Canada.   He was the first of three brothers to move to Alameda County.  After buying, farming, and selling different parcels, he and his two brothers bought 334 acres of land near the right-of-way of the Western Pacific Railroad.  The Decoto Land Company bought 284 acres to develop a railroad town.  Decoto was originally spelled "de Coteau."