User:Kdavis25/Concord, California

History
Concord was founded as "Todos Santos" in 1869 by Don Salvio Pacheco, a noted Californio ranchero.

The valleys north of Mount Diablo were inhabited by the Miwok people, who hunted elk and fished in the numerous streams flowing from the mountain into the San Francisco Bay.

QUOTE "For some time the tribes of much of central and eastern Contra Costa County have been known as Bay Miwok. One of those tribes, or tribelets as scholars call them, were the Chupcan of Diablo Valley."

PARAPHRASE: The Chupcan of Diablo Valley were a triblet of the Bay Miwok living in central and eastern Contra Costa County.

''QUOTE: "The Chupcan tribe, among Contra Costa County’s first human residents, are the focus of a Native American Day celebration Sept. 24. Author Dean McLeod will talk about his research on the Chupcan, who made their home in the Diablo Valley until 1805, according to a news release from the event’s sponsor, the Contra Costa County Historical Society. The [ Willow Pass] community center is across the street from the tree line that marks the stream that indicated the Chupcan village site, where the tribe lived for hundreds and possibly thousands of years, according to the news release." ''

PARAPHRASE: The Chupcans lived in the Diablo Valley until 1805 and were some of Contra Costa County's first inhabitants, living there for possibly thousands of years.

It is important to note Miwok and other indigenous people still live within city limits. In 1772, Spanish explorers began to cross the area but did not settle there. In 1834, the Mexican land grant Rancho Monte del Diablo at the base of Mount Diablo was granted to Salvio Pacheco (for whom the nearby town of Pacheco is named).

Concord was founded under the name of Todos Santos ("all saints"; a name still borne by the central city plaza and park between Willow Pass Road and Salvio Street), on the initiative of Pacheco in 1869. It achieved prominence in the 19th century, when most residents of Pacheco relocated to Concord to avoid the devastation of fire and flood which crippled Pacheco's formerly booming economy. Concord was incorporated on February 5, 1905.

The area around Concord in the surrounding Ygnacio and Clayton Valleys was a large agricultural area. Crops that were grown included grapes, walnuts, almonds, wheat, hay, and even tomatoes. The area to the east (now the site of the Concord Naval Weapons Station) was the site of a few enormous wheat ranches over 5,000 acres (20 km2), and was almost a sea of wheat all the way to the marshes bordering Suisun Bay. During Prohibition, many vineyards were removed and replaced with walnut orchards. The town of Cowell, now incorporated into Concord, produced cement.

The first Concord post office opened in 1872.