Everything about Richmond California totally explained
Richmond is a city in western
Contra Costa County,
California,
United States. The city was incorporated on
August 7,
1905. It is located in the
East Bay, part of the
San Francisco Bay Area and is sometimes confused with the
Richmond District in San Francisco. It is a residential inner suburb, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been undergoing a shift towards a service and commercial economy since the 1970s. Richmond almost completely surrounds the city of
San Pablo, and the
unincorporated areas of
North Richmond,
El Sobrante and
East Richmond Heights.
The city is headed by mayor
Gayle McLaughlin, making Richmond the largest city in the country with a
Green Party mayor. As of the
July 1,
2005 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 102,186, while the
California Department of Finance estimates the city's population at 103,468, as of
January 1 2006. This makes Richmond the 56th largest city in the state behind
Berkeley and ahead of
Santa Clara. People from Richmond are most often referred to as Richmonders, although Richmondites is the proper term.
History
The
Ohlone Indians were the first inhabitants of the Richmond area, settling an estimated 5,000 years ago.
The name "Richmond" appears to predate actual incorporation by more than fifty years. Edmund Randolph, originally from
Richmond, Virginia, represented the city of San Francisco when California's first legislature met in San Jose in December 1849, and he became state assemblyman from San Francisco. His loyalty to the town of his birth caused him to persuade a federal surveying party mapping the San Francisco Bay to place the names "Point Richmond" and "Richmond" on an 1854 geodetic coast map, which was the geodetic map at the terminal selected by the San Joaquin Valley Railroad; and by 1899 maps made by the railroad carried the name "Point Richmond Avenue," designating a county road that later became Barrett Avenue, a central street in Richmond.
Richmond was founded and incorporated in 1905, carved out of Rancho San Pablo, from which the nearby town of San Pablo inherited its name. Until 1919, the city had the largest
winery in the world; the small abandoned village of
Winehaven remains fenced off along Western Drive in the Point Molate Area. In the 1920s the
Ku Klux Klan was active in the city. In 1930 the
Ford Motor Company opened an assembly plant in the south side of town, which is now an abandoned industrial area (the plant moved to
Milpitas in the 1970s). The city was a small town at that time, until the onset of
World War II which brought on a rush of migrants and a boom in the industrial sector.
Standard Oil set up operations here in 1901, including a refinery and
tank farm, which are still operated by
Chevron. There is a pier into San Francisco Bay south of
Point Molate for oil tankers. The western terminus of the
Santa Fe Railroad was established in Richmond with ferry connections at Ferry Point in the Brickyard Cove area of
Point Richmond to San Francisco.
At the outset of
World War II, the four
Richmond Shipyards were built along the Richmond waterfront, employing thousands of workers, many recruited from all over the United States, including many African-Americans and women entering the workforce for the first time. Many of these workers lived in specially-constructed houses scattered throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Richmond, Berkeley and Albany. A specially-built rail line, the
Shipyard Railway, transported workers to the shipyards. Kaiser's Richmond shipyards built 747
Victory and
Liberty ships for the war effort, more than any other site in the U.S. The city broke many records and even built one Liberty ship in a record five days. On average the yards could build a ship in thirty days. The medical system established for the shipyard workers eventually became today's
Kaiser Permanente HMO. One of Kaiser's medical centers is located in Richmond.
Point Richmond was originally the commercial hub of the city, but a new downtown arose in the center of the city. It was populated by many department stores such as
Kress,
J.C. Penney,
Sears,
Macy's, and
Woolworth's. During the war the population increased dramatically and peaked at around 99,000 residents in 1950. By 1960 much of the temporary housing built for the shipyard workers was torn down, and the population dropped to about 71,000. Many of the people who moved to Richmond were
black and came from the Midwest and South. Most of the white men were overseas at war, and this opened up new opportunities for ethnic minorities and women. This era also brought with it the innovation of
daycare for children, as a few women could care for several dozen women's children, while most of the mothers went off to work in the factories and shipyards.
In the 1970s the Hilltop area including a large shopping mall was developed in the northern suburbs of the city; this further depressed the downtown area as it drew away retail clients and tenants. In the late 1990s and early 2000s the
Richmond Parkway was built along the western industrial and northwestern parkland of the city connecting Interstates 80 and 580.
In the early 1900s, the Santa Fe railroad established a major rail yard adjacent to Point Richmond. The railroad constructed a tunnel through the Potrero San Pablo ridge to run a track from their yard to a ferry landing from which freight cars could be transshipped to San Francisco. Where this track crosses the main street in Point Richmond, there remain two of the last operational
wigwag grade crossing signals in the United States, and the only surviving examples of the "upside-down" type. The wigwag is an antiquated type of railroad crossing signal which was phased out in the 1970s and 80s across the country. There was controversy in 2005 when the State Transportation Authority ordered the BNSF railroad company to upgrade the railroad crossing signs. A compromise was achieved that included installing new modern crossing equipment while not removing, but simply shutting off the historic ones and preserving their functionality for special events.
The
Pullman Company also established a major facility in Richmond in the early 20th century. The facility connected with both the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific and serviced their passenger coach equipment. The Pullman Company was a large employer of
African American men, who worked mainly as
porters on the Pullman cars. Many of them settled in the East Bay, from Richmond to Oakland, prior to World War II.
In 2006 the city celebrated its centennial. This coincided with the repaving and streetscaping project of
Macdonald Avenue. The city's old rundown commercial district along Macdonald has been designated the city's "Main Street District" by the state of California. This has led to funding of improvements in the form of state grants.
Geography
Richmond is located at (37.936874, -122.342057).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 52.6
sq mi (136.2
km²). 30.0 sq mi (77.6 km²) of it's land and 22.6 sq mi (58.5 km²) of it (42.98%) is water. The city sits on of waterfront, more than any other city in the Bay Area. The city borders
San Francisco Bay to the southwest and
San Pablo Bay to the northwest, and includes
Brooks Island and the
Brother Islands entirely, and half of
Red Rock Island.
There are several cities and
unincorporated communities surrounding or bordering Richmond. To the south is the city of
Albany which is in
Alameda County and the city of
El Cerrito. The cities and unincorporated areas of,
East Richmond Heights,
Rollingwood and,
El Sobrante lie to the East.
North Richmond to the west and
San Pablo to the east are almost entirely surrounded by Richmond's
city limits. To the north, Richmond borders the city of
Pinole and the unincorporated areas of
Bayview-Montalvin, and
Tara Hills. Richmond borders
Alameda,
San Francisco, and
Marin counties in the Bay and Red Rock Island.
The city is within the 94801, 94803, 94804, 94805, and 94806
ZIP Codes.
Climate
| Annual rainfall and temperatures |
| Month |
Rainfall in. (mm) |
Mean high temp. |
Mean low temp. |
| January |
4.91 (124.7) |
57 °F (14 °C) |
43 °F (6 °C) |
| February |
4.41 (112.0) |
61 °F (16 °C) |
45 °F (7 °C) |
| March |
3.52 (89.4) |
63 °F (17 °C) |
47 °F (8 °C) |
| April |
1.35 (34.3) |
66 °F (17 °C) |
48 °F (9 °C) |
| May |
0.54 (13.7) |
68 °F (20 °C) |
51 °F (11 °C) |
| June |
0.17 (4.3) |
71 °F (22 °C) |
54 °F (12 °C) |
| July |
0.07 (1.8) |
70 °F (21 °C) |
55 °F (13 °C) |
| August |
0.09 (2.3) |
71 °F (22 °C) |
56 °F (13 °C) |
| September |
0.27 (6.9) |
73 °F (23 °C) |
56 °F (13 °C) |
| October |
1.25 (31.8) |
72 °F (22 °C) |
56 °F (13 °C) |
| November |
3.47 (88.1) |
64 °F (18 °C) |
48 °F (9 °C) |
| December |
3.30 (83.8) |
57 °F (14 °C) |
43 °F (6 °C) |
Richmond, like much of the coastal
East Bay, enjoys a very mild
Mediterranean climate year round. The climate is slightly warmer than the coastal areas of San Francisco,
the Peninsula, and Marin County; it's however more temperate than areas further inland. The average highs range from 57 °F (14 °C) to 73 °F (23 °C) and the lows between 43 °F (6 °C) to 56 °F (13 °C) year round. Morning humidity is 75% to 92% year round; afternoon humidity is more variable. This percentage is in the high 20s to mid 30s (%) May through October (the summer months) and climbs or descends through 40% to 70% during the winter. Richmond is one of the few places where you can find the rare
Olympia Oyster on the west coast, in the polluted waters along the refinery's shoreline.
Rainbow Trout have recently returned to San Pablo and Wildcat creeks.
Red-tailed Hawks patrol the skies.
Monarch Butterflies migrate through the city on their journey between Mexico and Canada. Wildcat Marsh has two ponds where Canada Geese often rest, and is also the home of the endangered
Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse and
California Clapper Rail. Another endangered species in the city is the
Santa Cruz Tarweed which survives alongside Interstate 80. Wildcat Canyon also hosts falcons and vultures. Threatened Black Rails also live in the city's marshes.
After a baby
Grey Whale was beached on the Point Richmond shore in May 2007, its rotting corpse became bothersome to neighbors. It took a while to remove it since various agencies argued over whom would have to pay for it.
Richmond is also home to one of the last pristine moist grassland habitats in the entire Bay Area at the former
Campus Bay UC Berkeley Field Station near
Meeker Slough.
In 2006 the city was sued by an environmental group in 2006 for dumping raw
sewage into the Bay. Councilmember Tom Butt was very vocal on the accusing the city council of turning a blind eye to the problem.
Mayor McLaughlin has set a goal of installing 5 megawatts of solar photovoltaic generation in Richmond.
Disasters
Richmond lies in the volatile California region that has a potential for devastating earthquakes. Many buildings were damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. There was also minor damage in the Richmond earthquake in 1995. The city has also had at least one minor tornado. The Chevron refinery often releases gases and had many highly noted chemical leaks in the 1990s. The company has been fined thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. The chemicals most often released are chlorine and sulfur trioxide.
In 1993 industrial accident, a General Chemical company rail tanker car containing
oleum was overheated and exploded. This resulted in a area contaminated with the poisonous gas, and led to 25,000 people landing in the hospital. The incident led to lawsuits, and has been referred to as a mini-bhopal.
The city's shoreline and wildlife were seriously affected by the
2007 San Francisco Bay oil spill. Beaches and shoreline were closed, but later reopened. The government organizations responsible for coordination and spill mitigation have been accused of ignoring Richmond, since it's a poor area that's already polluted. Keller Beach was closed to public access for swimmers.
Demographics
Further Information
Get more info on 'Richmond California'.
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