Antioch, California

any season of the year. The landing also included a slaughterhouse, a smokehouse for curing hams, rodeo grounds, and a 1½-story dwelling to serve as a home for the Rancho’s manager and his wife. In 1850, two brothers, William and Joseph Smith, founded a town slightly west of Marsh’s Landing and named it Smith’s Landing. In 1851, the town’s new minister persuaded the residents to change the name of the town to Antioch for the biblical city of Antioch. Around 1859, coal was discovered in several places in the hills south of Antioch and coal mining formed the town’s first substantial business, apart from farming and dairying. In 1863, copper ore was discovered nearby, and two years later, oil was drilled for, although none of these three extractive industries survived for long. Today, Antioch is mainly a bedroom community, with almost 90 percent of its workforce commuting to the larger cities to its west, including Oakland and San Francisco. Antioch has grown considerably over the last 30 years as the population of the Bay Area has continued to increase, and real estate prices have forced families to move towards its outskirts. Land remains plentiful and affordable in Antioch compared with other parts of the Bay Area, and retail and office space typically leases for 20 to 30 percent less than comparable space in central Contra Costa County. There are a variety of housing ANT IOCH , CAL I FORNI A