Located directly across San Francisco Bay from the famous Golden Gate, the small city of Albany has a history far larger than its size would suggest. Just one-and-a-half-miles square, the Albany area has been the home of many diverse people and interests. The first inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, followed by the Peralta family and their vast Rancho San Antonio. The Gold Rush brought new settlers and dynamite manufacturers, an incompatible pairing that could not last. Albany's population swelled after the great 1906 earthquake, when many San Franciscans moved to the East Bay. By the 1920s, new homes built by well-known developers like C. M. MacGregor attracted many more families. During World War II, Albany's population expanded yet again with the influx of shipyard workers housed at Codornices Village, now known as University Village. Albany has evolved to keep pace with modern times but also has maintained much of its small-town, familyfriendly character, a combination that makes it one of the most soughtafter locations along the East Bay shore.