In 1886, a railway line between Strathfield and Hornsby was opened, one of its stations being called Dundas. That name was shortly changed to Eastwood, after Eastwood House, the home of Edward Terry who had owned the land on which the station was built. The township of Eastwood gradually grew up around the station.
The original owner of Terry’s land was Private John Love, who, in 1794 was granted 90 acres at the North Brush in the district of The Field of Mars. He sold his grant to Capt. William Kent and in 1835 William Rutledge bought the property and built Eastwood House in 1840. This house is now part of the Marist Brothers School. Edward Terry purchased the property in 1865 and it became a social centre for the district. There were fine citrus orchards, gardens, a lake and a race track. Terry became the first Mayor of Ryde and later a Member of Parliament for the area.
Many early land grants were soon consolidated into the large estates of Brush Farm and Denistone and later Ryedale. Capt William Cox, the builder of the first road over the Blue Mountains, owned Brush Farm which in 1806 was sold to Gregory Blaxland. He was a free settler, noted for finding the way over the Blue Mountains in 1813 with Wentworth and Lawson. He grew buffalo grass for fodder, farmed the land and produced medal-winning wines from the Brush Farm Vineyard. Gregory built the house which is still standing, prior to 1820. His son-in-law, Dr Thomas Forster, and his grandson William lived in the house. William became premier of NSW and Dr Forster owned Deniston on which Richard Terry built Denistone House in 1872. This became Ryde Hospital in 1934. Ryedale was built by Edward Darvall on his property which extended from Victoria Road to Rutledge Street. This house was demolished and re-erected at Paterson.
The district became noted as a fruit-growing area and the famous Granny Smith Apple was first cultivated by Mrs Smith on her farm near the junction of North Road and Threlfall Street. A silk industry once flourished at Eastwood House and bricks for railway tunnels were made on Mrs Darvall’s property. Main camp was formed at Eastwood for the railway workers and this lead to a school (1884), a church, a post office and a hotel being established, all since replaced by other buildings.
Most of Eastwood became part of Ryde Municipality in 1870, but the eastern section formed the Municipality of Marsfield (later named Eastwood) in 1894 which again joined Ryde in 1949. In 1992 Ryde celebrated both the bicentenary of the first settlement and the achievement of city status. Eastwood has become a residential area with a shopping centre, a plaza, a re-furbished station and a large new library within the City of Ryde.