Editing Stockton, California (section)

===19th century===
[[File:Stockton California circa 1860.jpg|thumb|Stockton, c. 1860]]
[[File:Main Street, Stockton, California, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views (cropped).jpg|thumb|Main Street, Stockton, c. 1870]]
[[File:CityofStockton1895.jpg|thumb|City of Stockton in 1895]]

====Mexican era====

Carlos Maria Weber was a German immigrant to the United States in 1836. He was born as Carl David Weber (February 18, 1814, in [[Steinwenden]] – May 4, 1881, in Stockton) and then went by Charles in 1836 in the United States, first spending time in [[New Orleans]] and then in [[Texas]]. He then came overland from Missouri to California with the [[Bartleson-Bidwell Party]] in 1841 and began to go by Carlos, when he began working for [[John Sutter]]. In 1842 Weber settled in the [[Pueblo of San José]].

As an alien, Weber could not secure a land grant directly, so he formed a partnership with Guillermo (William) Gulnac. Born in New York, Gulnac had married a Mexican woman and sworn allegiance to [[Mexico]], which then ruled California. He applied in Weber's place for [[Rancho Campo de los Franceses]], a land grant of 11 square [[league (unit)|leagues]] on the east side of the San Joaquin River.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/GR_4157|title=A History of Stockton from Its Organization up to the Present Time | first=George Henry|last=Tinkham |year=1880|page=[https://archive.org/details/GR_4157/page/n430 397] |publisher=W.M. Hinton & Co.}}</ref>

Gulnac and Weber dissolved their partnership in 1843. Gulnac's attempts to settle the Rancho Campo de los Franceses failed, and Weber acquired it in 1845. In 1846 Weber had induced a number of settlers to locate on the rancho when the [[Mexican–American War]] broke out. Considered a Californio, Weber was offered the position of captain by Mexican general [[José Castro]], which he declined; he later, however, accepted the position of captain in the Cavalry of the United States. Captain Weber's decision to change sides lost him a great deal of the trust he had built up among his Mexican business partners. As a result, he moved to the grant in 1847 and sold his business in San Jose in 1849.

====Gold Rush era====

At the start of the [[California Gold Rush]] in 1848, Europeans and Americans started to arrive in the area of Weber's rancho on their way to the goldfields. When Weber decided to try his hand at gold mining in late 1848, he soon found selling supplies to [[California Gold Rush|gold-seekers]] was more profitable.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ci.stockton.ca.us/Awards/WeberAward.cfm |title=Captain Charles M. Weber Award |publisher=City of Stockton – Cultural Heritage Board |date=May 23, 2008 |access-date=February 4, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322073843/http://www.ci.stockton.ca.us/Awards/WeberAward.cfm |archive-date=March 22, 2008  }}</ref>

As the head of navigation on the San Joaquin River, the city grew rapidly as a miners' supply point during the Gold Rush. Weber built the first permanent residence in the [[San Joaquin Valley]] on a piece of land now known as Weber Point.<ref name="historycity"/>  During the Gold Rush, the location of what is now Stockton developed as a river port, the hub of roads to the gold settlements in the San Joaquin Valley and northern terminus of the [[Stockton - Los Angeles Road]]. During its early years, Stockton was known by several names, including "Weberville," "Fat City," "Mudville" and "California's Sunrise Seaport."<ref name="uopabout">{{cite web|title=About Stockton|url=http://www.pacific.edu/About-Pacific/General-Questions/About-Stockton.html|website=www.pacific.edu|publisher=University of the Pacific|access-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref>  In 1849 Weber laid out a town, which he named "Tuleburg," but he soon decided on "Stockton" in honor of [[Commodore (rank)|Commodore]] [[Robert F. Stockton]]. Stockton was the first community in California to have a name that was neither Spanish nor [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] in origin.<ref name=facts>{{cite web|title=Stockton Facts|url=http://www.visitstockton.org/about-us/fun-facts/|publisher=Stockton Convention & Visitors Bureau|access-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref>

====Chinese immigration====

Thousands of Chinese came to Stockton from the [[Guangdong]] province of China during the 1850s due to a combination of political and economic unrest in China and the discovery of gold in California. After the gold rush, many worked for the railroads and land reclamation projects in the [[Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta]] and remained in Stockton. By 1880 Stockton was home to the third-largest Chinese community in California. Discriminatory laws, in particular the [[Chinese Exclusion Act]] of 1882, restricted immigration and prevented the Chinese from buying property.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ugly-legacy-latino-couple-finds-racist-covenant-housing-paperwork-n1082476|title=An ugly legacy: Latino couple finds racist covenant in housing paperwork|last=Aviles|first=Gwen|date=November 15, 2019|work=NBC News|language=en|access-date=November 16, 2019|quote=No persons other than those wholly of the white Caucasian race shall use, occupy or reside upon any part of or within any building located on the above described real property, except servants or domestics of another race employed by or domiciled with a white Caucasian owner or tenant,}}</ref> The Lincoln Hotel, built in 1920 by the Wong brothers on South El Dorado Street, was considered one of Stockton's finest hotels of the time. Only after the [[Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act|Magnuson Act]] was repealed in 1965 were American-born Chinese allowed to buy property and own buildings.<ref>{{cite web|title=Spirit of Stockton's Chinatown|url=http://downtownstockton.org/stockton_history.php|publisher=Downtown Stockton Alliance|access-date=February 21, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202214924/http://downtownstockton.org/stockton_history.php|archive-date=February 2, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Some State of California and City of San Francisco Anti-Chinese Legislation and Subsequent Action|url=http://teachingresources.atlas.illinois.edu/chinese_exp/resources/resource_2_4.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107170704/http://teachingresources.atlas.illinois.edu/chinese_exp/resources/resource_2_4.pdf |archive-date=November 7, 2014 |url-status=live|publisher=The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois|access-date=February 26, 2016|year=2006}}</ref>

====Incorporation====

The city was officially incorporated on July 23, 1850, by the county court, and the first city election was held on July 31, 1850. In 1851 the City of Stockton received its charter from the State of California. Early settlers included gold seekers from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, the Pacific Islands, Mexico and Canada. The historical population diversity is reflected in Stockton street names, architecture, numerous ethnic festivals and the faces and heritage of a majority of its citizens. In 1870 the Census Bureau reported Stockton's population as 87.6% white and 10.7% Asian. Many Chinese were immigrating to California as workers in these years, especially for the [[Transcontinental Railroad]].<ref name="census">{{cite web|title=California - Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Cities and Other Places: Earliest Census to 1990 |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812191959/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |archive-date=August 12, 2012 }}</ref>

[[Benjamin Holt]] settled in Stockton in 1883 and with his three brothers founded the Stockton Wheel Co., and later the [[Holt Manufacturing Company]].