Lodi

Sister cities

• Lodi
• Kofu

History

When a group of local families decided to establish a school in 1859, they settled on a site near present-day Cherokee Lane and Turner Road. In 1869, the Central Pacific Railroad was in the process of creating a new route, and settlers Ezekiel Lawrence, Reuben Wardrobe, A. C. Ayers, and John Magley offered a townsite of to the railroad as an incentive to build a station there. The railroad received a "railroad reserve" of in the middle of town, and surveyors began laying out streets in the area between Washington to Church and Locust to Walnut. Settlers flocked from nearby Woodbridge, Liberty City, and Galt including town founders John M. Burt and Dan Crist. Initially called Mokelumne and Mokelumne Station after the nearby Mokelumne River, confusion with other nearby towns prompted a name change, which was officially endorsed in Sacramento by an assembly bill. Several stories have been offered about the origins of the town's name change. One refers to a locally stabled trotting horse that had set a four-mile (6 km) record, but as the horse reached the peak of its fame in 1869, it is unlikely that its notoriety would still have been evident in 1873. Alternatively, Lodi is a city in northern Italy where Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1796 and won his first military victory. More than likely, some of the earliest settler families were from one of the places that was once called Lodi, Illinois, and chose to use the same name as their hometown. In 1906, the city was officially incorporated by voters, passing by a margin of 2 to 1. The fire department was established in 1911, and the city purchased the Bay City Gas and Water Works in 1919. Additional public buildings constructed during this period include the Lodi Opera House in 1905, a Carnegie library in 1909,…

Geography

Lodi is flat terrain at an elevation of approximately above mean sea level datum. Historically, land in the area has been used for grazing as well as for grain production. There has long been a movement in the area to preserve a "greenbelt" as a buffer zone between Lodi and Stockton in order to keep the two cities separate. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city covers an area of , 98.38% of it land, and 1.62% of it water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  14,887
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  14,360
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  14,030
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  11,270
• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  10,647
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  10,470
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,426
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,110

Largest nearby schools

• Lincoln High
  High · Stockton · 2,936 students · 23.1:1 ratio
• Cesar Chavez High
  High · Stockton · 2,257 students · 24.3:1 ratio
• Lodi High
  High · Lodi · 2,070 students · 19:1 ratio
• Tokay High
  High · Lodi · 2,059 students · 19.8:1 ratio
• Bear Creek High
  High · Stockton · 1,937 students · 20.2:1 ratio
• Stagg Senior High
  High · Stockton · 1,773 students · 21.4:1 ratio
• Ronald E. McNair High
  High · Stockton · 1,768 students · 19:1 ratio
• ABLE Charter
  Other · Stockton · 1,189 students · 22.4:1 ratio