Fremont, city in Alameda County, western California, on San Francisco Bay, north of San Jose. Fremont is part of a broad swath of communities collectively dubbed Silicon Valley for their many high-technology companies; manufactures include computers and computer manufacturing equipment. It also has the only automobile manufacturing plant on the West Coast. It is home to a community college as well as an extension center of the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Also in the city are the Ardenwood Farm Historical Park, the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and Mission San José de Guadalupe, a replica of a mission founded by Franciscans in 1797. The Fremont Festival of the Arts is an annual event.
When gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1848, the community changed from an agricultural center to a stop for miners on their way to the gold fields. After a period as a resort area, it once again became an agricultural community. Fremont incorporated in 1956 as a consolidation of five communities. The city is named for the army officer and explorer John Charles Frémont.
