ONE of the earliest communities established in Contra Costa County, Antioch, located at the mouth of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, began in late 1849.

Brothers Joseph and William Smith purchased 160 acres of Dr. John Marsh’s extensive Rancho Los Medanos, which took its Spanish name from the sand dunes that fronted the river.

The brother’s "New York House" soon became a stopping point for Sierra-bound miners, and the following year, William Smith invited recent San Francisco arrivals to settle at "Smith’s Landing."

In 1851, to honor his now-dead brother, William Smith changed the town’s name to Antioch after the Biblical town in Syria located where two rivers meet. The coming of steamboats, large scale agriculture and the growth of Sacramento ensured Antioch’s fortunes in the 19th century.

The discovery of soft coal near Mount Diablo made Antioch the shipping point for coal mined at the village of Stewartsville, delivered via the Empire Mine and Coal Railroad Company. Shipping, fishing, canning and a paper mill were among Antioch’s industries throughout much of the last century.

Today, with still afforable housing, the city is experiencing tremendous growth, with sub- divisions expanding south and east into the rolling foothills of Mount Diablo.

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