Lathrop is a city located 9 miles (14 km) south of Stockton in San Joaquin County, California, United States. Take a look below for 15 obscure and awesome facts about Lathrop, California, United States.
1. The 2010 United States Census reported that Lathrop’s population was 18,023.
2. The city is located in the San Joaquin Valley in Northern California at the intersection of Interstate 5 and California State Route 120.
3. Lathrop was platted when the transcontinental railroad was extended to that point around 1868.
4. A post office has been in operation at Lathrop since 1871.
5. The city was named for Jane Stanford, née Lathrop, wife of Leland Stanford.
6. On September 6, 1869, four months after the golden spike ceremony of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit, the San Joaquin Railroad Bridge at Mossdale crossing at Lathrop was finished by Western Pacific.
7. This actually completed the last link of the transcontinental railroad to the Pacific coast[13] with the first through train from Sacramento arriving that evening at the Alameda Wharf in San Francisco Bay.
8. On August 14, 1889, former Chief Justice of California David S. Terry assaulted United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field, at the train station in Lathrop. Field’s bodyguard, United States Marshal David Neagle (formerly assigned to Tombstone, Arizona), shot and killed Terry.
9. The events led to the United States Supreme Court decision In re Neagle, which granted immunity from State prosecution to federal officers acting within the scope of their federal authority.
10. The City of Lathrop is served by The San Joaquin Regional Transit District and the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) commuter rail train at Lathrop/Manteca station.
11. The City of Lathrop has a seven-mile (11 km) radius population of 105,893 with an average household income of $63,072.
12. Lathrop is centered between the Stockton and Tracy submarkets – both within a 20-mile (32 km) radius.
13. In April 2014, electric car maker Tesla Motors (based in Palo Alto, about an hour southwest) announced that it would be opening a factory in Lathrop, in a 430,000 sq ft (40,000 m2) facility that was once a DaimlerChrysler distribution center. The Tesla website showed 34 positions it was looking to fill to start.
14. Mossdale Village, located west of I-5 and east of the San Joaquin River, consists of 2375 units and is of unique historical significance. The development abuts, and is named after, the site of the San Joaquin Railroad Bridge at Mossdale crossing, which was the final link to the Pacific coast for the Transcontinental Railroad, actually completed on September 6, 1869, four months after the official celebration and driving of the golden spike at Promontory Utah. California State Historical Marker number 781-7 is at Mossdale Crossing Park.
15. Most of Lathrop is part of the Manteca Unified School District. But once River Islands Development is built, students from that community will be part of Tracy High School District and Banta Elementary district. The district has integrated student devices in the 2014–2015 school year, which students received in late January. Lathrop has also adopted Common Core into their curriculum.
