All About The History of Martinez, California

Martinez is the city and county seat of Contra Costa County , California, in the East Bay Area of San Francisco Bay. The population at the 2010 census was 35,824. The city center is notable for its large number of preserved old buildings and antique shops. Martinez is located on the southern shore of the Carquinez Strait in the San Francisco Bay Area, directly across from the center of Benicia and the southeastern end of Vallejo, California.

It features 17 parks, a pool recognized in 2012 as the “Best Aquatic Facility” in the California Park and Recreation Society District 3, and plenty of open space. The waterfront features a marina and hiking trails, world-class bocce ball courts and newly renovated baseball and softball fields.

The first Mexican government to send him to the Alhambra valley, in 1824, granted Don Ygnacio Martinez, commandant of the Presidio in San Francisco at the beginning of the 19th century. After Martinez in 1849, the town was named.

Martinez was a gold mining and trading boomtown from a trade post in 1849 to incorporation in 1876. Early county settlers purchased and sold their goods here and transported there. One developed the iconic “Martini” cocktail.

The city served the gold searchers who arrived on the southern shore of the Carquinez Strait to take a ferry to Benicia, California from Dr. Robert Semple, when they were moving into the gold territory.

The County Seat of Contra Costa was proclaimed in 1850 and incorporated in 1876. This is a city’s administrative center with facilities such as the county parliament, county court, sheriff’s department, records office, prison and correctional center etc. It is also an administrative center.

In 1858, Martinez began operations with its local newspaper as a grain shipping point to the Livermore Valley from Diablo to 1860. In 1877, the railways arrived. In 1879, the Central Pacific with the links to the transcontinents came by ferry to Port Costa, with the world’s biggest ferry.The population of Martinez grew from 875 in 1880 to over 30,000 in 1990.

It’s the birthplace of New York Yankee baseball great Joseph Paul DiMaggio, and it was the childhood home of Norv Turner, head coach of the Washington Redskins soccer team. State Senator William Sharkey, U.S. Senator John Baldwin, State Assemblyman and Senator George Miller, Jr. and his son, U.S., were also prominent residents not mentioned. Congressman George Miller III. Fire Chief John “Toddy” Briones (whose name is Briones Regional Park) was the first paid firefighter in the city. Special community celebrations are: John Muir’s birthday, Columbus Day, Art-in the Park (September), July 4th, and two Antique Peddlers’ Fairs (May and August).