American pioneers first came to San Ramon in 1850 when Leo and Mary Jane Norris purchased 4,450 acres from Jose Amador's Rancho San Ramon. Other early landowners included William and Mary Lynch, James and Elizabeth Dougherty, and Samuel Russell, the first owner of Forest Home Farms. Other early pioneer families whose names remain on local hills, canyons, and streets included Norris, Lynch, Bollinger, Crow, Meese, Harlan, Glass, McCamley, and Wiedemann. In the 1860s San Ramon village was a hub of community activity, with a stage line running through the valley to Oakland, a blacksmith shop, a church dedicated in 1860, a general store built in 1863, and the San Ramon School in 1867. In 1895 attorney Thomas Bishop acquired 3,000 acres of Norris land, and Bishop Ranch raised cattle and sheep and was planted in hay, grain, diversified fruit crops, and walnuts; at one point it had the world's largest single orchard of Bartlett pears.