Timeline

  1. 1800s
  2. Early 1900s
  3. Mid-1900s
  4. Late 1900s
  5. 2000s

The Mid-1800s

  • 1869 - City of Lodi founded in August; Charles O. Ivory and John M. Burt establish the Ivory Store, which was located at the corner of Pine and Sacramento Streets; it acted as a magnet of sorts, drawing homesteaders and other businesses to the area.
  • 1874 - March 21, Assembly Bill 639 changes town’s name from Mokelumne to Lodi.
  • 1876 - The Lodi Flouring Mill is established in a brick building at the southwest corner of Main and Locust Streets; it was capable of producing more than 200 barrels of flour a day.
  • 1878 - Lodi’s population is 450; Gertie DeForce Cluff establishes Lodi’s first newspaper the Valley Review; San Joaquin County is divided into five Districts with Lodi in the 4th.

The Late 1800s

  • 1880 - San Joaquin County raises the largest single wheat crop in the world - some 3.4 million bushels, much of it grown in Lodi.
  • 1881 - Ralph Ellis founds the Lodi News-Sentinel, originally headquartered on Elm Street.
  • 1886 - Grown without irrigation, 3,000 carloads of watermelons were shipped from Lodi.
  • 1887 - Fire destroys downtown area along Sacramento Street.
  • 1888 - Benjamin F. Langford launches the original Bank of Lodi with a capital stock of $25,000.
  • 1891 - Water and gas service provided to citizens.
  • 1896 - Tom and Wood Henderson buy hardware dealership from John Collins, and Henderson Bros. Hardware is born.
  • 1897 - Wilhelm and Charlotta Heib arrive in Lodi with their eight children; they were the first of a wave of migration by Dakotans of German descent - a group that would shape the City’s development through the present day.
  • 1899 - Lodi is said to have 2,346,061 grapevines.