Foster City is an affluent planned city located in San Mateo County, California. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 28,803.
Foster City was founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay, on the east edge of San Mateo. The city was named after T. Jack Foster, a real estate magnate who owned much of the land comprising the city and who was instrumental in the intitial design. His successor firm, Foster Enterprises, run by his descendants, is still active in real estate affairs throughout the San Francisco Bay area.
Foster City is home to three public elementary schools of the San Mateo-Foster City School District, Foster City Elementary School, Brewer Island Elementary School, and Audubon Elementary School. There is one public middle school, Nathaniel Bowditch Middle School, also of the San Mateo-Foster City School District. There are several private preschools, elementary schools, and middle schools. There are no high schools, and so Foster City high school students attend schools in the San Mateo Union High School District.
Of the four public schools in Foster City, Audubon School, Foster City School, and Bowditch School have won California Distinguished School awards. In 1993, Bowditch was recognized with the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon. In 2005, Bowditch became a California Distinguished School for the second time.
As a planned community, Foster City was made for recreation. It boasts 19 parks made up of more than 100 acres, including many public tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields, basketball courts, and a levee along the San Francisco Bay. Foster City also maintains an extensive 212-acre, man-made enclosed lagoon system. A world-class windsurfing spot in the San Francisco Bay can be found within the city limits of Foster City. There is one 9-hole golf course. Additionally, there are Dragon boat and Outrigger Canoe clubs that operate in the lagoon.
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