Crockett | |
|---|---|
 Looking south towards Crockett from theCarquinez Strait, July 14, 2010. Courtesy Federico Pizano. | |
 Location inContra Costa County andCalifornia | |
  Crockett Location in the United States | |
| Coordinates:38°03′09″N122°12′47″W / 38.05250°N 122.21306°W /38.05250; -122.21306 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| County | Contra Costa |
| Government | |
| • State Senate | Tim Grayson (D)[1] |
| • State Assembly | Anamarie Avila Farias (D)[2] |
| • U. S. Congress | John Garamendi (D)[3] |
| Area | |
• Total | 1.06 sq mi (2.75 km2) |
| • Land | 1.06 sq mi (2.75 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0.00 km2) 0% |
| Elevation | 128 ft (39 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 3,242 |
| • Density | 3,052.0/sq mi (1,178.38/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (PST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code | 94525 |
| Area codes | 510, 341 |
| FIPS code | 06-17274 |
| GNIS feature IDs | 277495,2407683 |
Crockett (formerlyCrockettville)[6] is acensus-designated place (CDP) inContra Costa County, in theEast Bay sub-region of theSan Francisco Bay Area,California. The population was 3,242 at the 2020 census. It is located 28 miles (45 km) northeast ofSan Francisco. Other nearby communities includePort Costa,Martinez,Vallejo,Benicia,Rodeo,Hercules,Pinole andRichmond.
Crockett is located on the Mexican land grantRancho El Pinole made toYgnacio Martinez, and is named afterJoseph B. Crockett, a judge on theCalifornia Supreme Court.[6] The town started when Thomas Edwards Sr. bought 1,800 acres (730 ha) of land from Judge Crockett in 1866. Edwards built his home in 1867 and when other settlers arrived, he started the first general store in Crockett. Edwards' home still stands and is known as "The Old Homestead", a California Historical Landmark.[7] Crocketville post office was established in 1883, and the name was changed to Crockett later that year.[6]
In 1906, an agricultural cooperative of Hawaiian sugar cane growers bought an existing beet sugar factory, refitted the facility, built additional structures for their refining needs, eventually turning Crockett into acompany town for theCalifornia and Hawaiian Sugar Company (better known as C&H).[6] The cane was grown in Hawaii and delivered by ship to Crockett, where the C&H refinery turned it into a variety of finished products.[8]
C & H soon became a dominant force in Crockett, which has been called a "company town."[a] By the 1920s, the company employed about 95 percent of the residents. Employment peaked at 2,500 just before WWII broke out.[8] C & H helped its employees obtain land and bank loans so that they could build houses. Company architects worked on designing the houses. The company funded many school and civic programs.[8]
In March and April 1938, Crockett experienced a labor strike at the C&H plant, climaxing in a riot. This was prior to the merger of the AFL and CIO national unions.[9]
By the 1960s, the good times were largely over for C & H and Crockett. Revenues and profits began dropping, so that the company pumped less money into the community. There were many layoffs as the company tried to restore profitability. In 1984, the company proposed building a natural gas-powered cogeneration plant that would provide steam for the sugar refinery and low-cost electricity for Crockett. A protest group calling itself the Crockett Power Plant Committee, supported by many Crockett residents, was formed and spent the next nine years opposing the proposal.[8] The proposed power plant was eventually built, but only after the company agreed to make major changes. C & H agreed to give Crockett $300,000 per year for the ensuing 30 years, which mostly funds its police and volunteer fire fighting departments.[8]
The Hawaiian sugar farmers sold their holdings in 1993 to Hawaii-based Alexander & Baldwin, which converted C & H from a co-op into a corporation. In 1998, A & B sold a controlling interest to Citicorp Venture Capital (CVC). American Sugar Refining bought C & H in 2006, merging it with its other sugar operations. Revenues and profits continued their decline into the 21st century, until the Crockett plant processed its last shipment of Hawaiian sugar in 2017.[10][b]
Raw sugar now arrives from the globe's sun belt: Australia, the Philippines and Nicaragua, among other countries.[11]
A wildfire burned near Crockett on October 29, 2019, the same week as multiple wildfires in the region, e.g. Sonoma County's Kirkwood Fire, and a wildfire at the north end of theCarquinez Bridge inVallejo, California. There is some suspicion that strong northerly wind then caused embers from the Vallejo fire to jump the strait and ignite brush fires southwest of Crockett, located in Contra Costa County at the opposite end of the Carquinez Bridge. The new fire, which was dubbed the Sky Fire, ignited about 9:30 AM and quickly generated so much dense smoke that authorities chose to close the Carquinez Bridge to all vehicular traffic in both directions. The CHP and county sheriff's office then began to evacuate residents from that side of the community. Emergency responders from other cities rushed to the aid of Crockett's own volunteer fire department to begin extinguishing the fire, which was reportedly 50 percent contained shortly after noon that day. The Crockett evacuation order was cancelled and the Carquinez Bridge was reopened to traffic soon after.[12]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km2), all of it land.
Crockett is located where theCarquinez Strait meetsSan Pablo Bay. TheCarquinez Bridge, part ofInterstate 80, links Crockett with the city ofVallejo to the north across the strait. To the east of Crockett along the south shore of the strait arePort Costa and the city ofMartinez. South of Crockett are the town ofRodeo and the city ofHercules. Farther southwest on I-80 are the cities ofRichmond,Berkeley andOakland; in the opposite direction, northeast, is the capital of California,Sacramento.
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C). According to theKöppen Climate Classification system, Crockett has awarm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviatedCsb on climate maps.[13]
| Climate data for Crockett, California | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 73 (23) | 79 (26) | 85 (29) | 92 (33) | 100 (38) | 104 (40) | 110 (43) | 103 (39) | 107 (42) | 99 (37) | 87 (31) | 75 (24) | 110 (43) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 54.1 (12.3) | 59.6 (15.3) | 63.5 (17.5) | 66.8 (19.3) | 71.1 (21.7) | 77.0 (25.0) | 80.0 (26.7) | 80.3 (26.8) | 78.7 (25.9) | 73.3 (22.9) | 64.3 (17.9) | 54.9 (12.7) | 68.6 (20.3) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 47.4 (8.6) | 51.6 (10.9) | 54.6 (12.6) | 57.3 (14.1) | 61.0 (16.1) | 65.8 (18.8) | 67.6 (19.8) | 67.9 (19.9) | 67.1 (19.5) | 62.9 (17.2) | 55.7 (13.2) | 48.5 (9.2) | 59.0 (15.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 40.8 (4.9) | 43.6 (6.4) | 45.6 (7.6) | 47.6 (8.7) | 50.9 (10.5) | 54.7 (12.6) | 55.2 (12.9) | 55.5 (13.1) | 55.6 (13.1) | 52.5 (11.4) | 47.1 (8.4) | 42.0 (5.6) | 49.3 (9.6) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 19 (−7) | 29 (−2) | 30 (−1) | 34 (1) | 39 (4) | 41 (5) | 46 (8) | 44 (7) | 45 (7) | 38 (3) | 31 (−1) | 21 (−6) | 19 (−7) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 3.55 (90) | 3.10 (79) | 2.31 (59) | 1.37 (35) | 0.38 (9.7) | 0.16 (4.1) | 0.03 (0.76) | 0.04 (1.0) | 0.20 (5.1) | 1.05 (27) | 2.08 (53) | 3.38 (86) | 17.65 (448) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 0.4 (1.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.4 (1) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 53 |
| Source: Western Regional Climate Center[14] | |||||||||||||
TheBailey Art Museum features the work of internationally acclaimed sculptorClayton Bailey, a resident of nearby Port Costa.[15] The 3,200-square-foot (300 m2) space brings together works from across the artist's five decades plus career featuring examples ofFunk art, Nut art, ceramics, and metal sculpture (including robots and space guns), as well as pseudo-scientific curiosities by the artist's alter-ego, Dr. Gladstone. The collection also includes watercolor drawings byBetty Bailey and a gift shop.[16]
The former Crockett railroad station now serves as the home of the Crockett Historical Society.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 3,228 | — | |
| 2000 | 3,194 | −1.1% | |
| 2010 | 3,094 | −3.1% | |
| 2020 | 3,242 | 4.8% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[17] 1990[18]2000[19] 2010[20] | |||
Crockett first appeared as acensus-designated place in the1990 United States census.[18]
| Race / Ethnicity(NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 2000[21] | Pop 2010[22] | Pop 2020[23] | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 2,529 | 2,203 | 1,952 | 79.18% | 71.20% | 60.21% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 100 | 140 | 199 | 3.13% | 4.52% | 6.14% |
| Native American orAlaska Native alone (NH) | 26 | 14 | 13 | 0.81% | 0.45% | 0.40% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 83 | 102 | 176 | 2.60% | 3.30% | 5.43% |
| Native Hawaiian orPacific Islander alone (NH) | 0 | 23 | 6 | 0.00% | 0.74% | 0.19% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 3 | 5 | 26 | 0.09% | 0.16% | 0.80% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | 82 | 117 | 245 | 2.57% | 3.78% | 7.56% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 371 | 490 | 625 | 11.62% | 15.84% | 19.28% |
| Total | 3,194 | 3,094 | 3,242 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
The2020 United States census reported that Crockett had a population of 3,242. The population density was 3,052.7 inhabitants per square mile (1,178.7/km2). The racial makeup of Crockett was 65.0%White, 6.4%African American, 1.1%Native American, 5.6%Asian, 0.2%Pacific Islander, 6.9% fromother races, and 14.8% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino of any race were 19.3% of the population.
The census reported that 100% of the population lived in households.
There were 1,537 households, out of which 19.3% included children under the age of 18, 35.6% were married-couple households, 8.8% werecohabiting couple households, 34.3% had a female householder with no partner present, and 21.3% had a male householder with no partner present. 36.0% of households were one person, and 15.9% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.11. There were 843families (54.8% of all households).
The age distribution was 13.9% under the age of 18, 5.3% aged 18 to 24, 28.9% aged 25 to 44, 29.8% aged 45 to 64, and 22.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.6 males.
There were 1,676 housing units at an average density of 1,578.2 units per square mile (609.3 units/km2), of which 1,537 (91.7%) were occupied. Of these, 54.5% were owner-occupied, and 45.5% were occupied by renters.[24][25]
Crockett is home to the corporate headquarters ofC&H Sugar, a subsidiary ofAmerican Sugar Refining.[26][27]
Crockett also contains a fuel storage facility owned by theNuStar Energy L.P. Corporation. This facility primarily consists of 24 storage tanks, designed to hold an aggregate of 3 million barrels (130 million US gallons).[28] Two of these tanks are reserved for containingethanol, which NuStar blends with other motor fuel components to make low-emissions automobile fuel mandated by California laws.
Crockett is part of theJohn Swett Unified School District,[29] and is home to bothCarquinez Middle School andJohn Swett High School.
The Crockett Library of theContra Costa County Library is located in Crockett.[27][30]
Crockett is bordered to the south and the east by two regional parks operated by theEast Bay Regional Park District.
Crockett Hills Regional Park lies south of Crockett. The 1,939-acre park ranges in elevation from 150 to 800 feet, offering views of San Pablo Bay, the Delta, Mount Tamalpais, and Mount Diablo. Trails include a 4.5-mile segment of theBay Area Ridge Trail. Crockett Hills is an excellent mountain biking park.[31][32]
Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline comprises 1,415 acres of bluffs and shoreline along Carquinez Scenic Drive between the town of Crockett and the hillsides overlooking Martinez.[33]
The topography of Crockett Ranch Regional Park and the adjoining Carquinez Regional Shoreline consists of open, rolling grasslands, wooded ravines, eucalyptus-shaded meadows, and river shoreline. Multi-purpose trails provide access to canyon views and ridgetop vistas.
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