Editing Livermore, California (section)

==== Founding ====
[[File:Livermore_map_1878.jpg|thumb|A map of Livermore published in 1878 by Thompson & West]]
Robert Livermore died in 1858.<ref name="isbn=978-0-7385-3099-4" /> The first significant settlement in the valley was [[Laddville|Laddsville]], a small settlement of about 75{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} which had grown up around the hotel established by Alponso Ladd around 1864<ref name=":8" /> on 160 acres of land he bought.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Bush |first=Barbara |url=https://lhg.org/Documents/Chapters/Just%20the%20facts%20highlights%20of%20Livermore%20History.pdf |title=Just the Facts...: Highlights of Livermore History |publisher=Livermore Heritage Guild |others=Illustrated by Jorja Vliet |year=1988 |editor-last=Dean |editor-first=Muriel |location=Livermore, California}}</ref> After the hotel and a house were initially built, another home, a [[blacksmith]], a [[Western saloon|saloon]], and a [[general store]] followed in the same year.<ref name=":13" /> The first schoolhouse was built in 1866.<ref name=":13" />

Livermore's founder, [[William Mendenhall]], was another landowner in the Livermore Valley, having bought 650 acres of the [[Rancho Santa Rita|Santa Rita grant]] and 608 acres of the [[Rancho Valle de San José]].<ref name=":17">{{Cite magazine |last=Finn |first=Richard |date=February 2020 |title=William Mendenhall: The Man and What He Did for Livermore |url=https://www.lhg.org/Documents/Newsletters/News2020-2029/2020_02.pdf |magazine=Livermore Heritage Guild Newsletter |volume=47 |issue=2}}</ref> In 1869, he set aside {{convert|100|acres}} of his land for a [[townsite]], creating a new town which he named Livermore, after his friend Robert Livermore.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Livermore History - William Mendenhall - eLivermore.com |url=http://www.elivermore.com/photos/Hist_lvr_mendenhall.htm |access-date=March 13, 2023 |website=www.elivermore.com}}</ref> Livermore was platted and registered on November 4, 1869, as a [[railroad town]].<ref name="depot">{{cite book |last1=Frank |first1=Alan M |title=Depot: A history of the railroad in Livermore |date=2019 |publisher=Livermore Heritage Guild}}</ref> By that time, the valley had already become known as Livermore's Valley.<ref name="isbn=978-0-7385-3099-4" /> He had first met Livermore while marching through the valley with [[John C. Fremont]]'s [[California Battalion]] in 1846 as they were recruited to occupy the surrendering [[Californio]] towns captured by the [[U.S. Navy]]'s [[Pacific Squadron]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Degan |first1=Ryan |date=November 4, 2019 |title=Livermore commemorates 150 years with a look back in time: City dedicates new community room to William M. Mendenhall |publisher=Pleasanton Weekly |url=https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2019/11/06/livermore-commemorates-150-years-with-a-look-back-in-time |access-date=December 30, 2020}}</ref> He also donated {{convert|20| acres}} of this land to the [[Western Pacific Railroad (1862-1870)|Western Pacific Railroad]],<ref name=":0" /> which in September 1869 placed a station on the land William Mendenhall had donated.<ref>Baker, Joseph Eugene; ''Past and Present of Alameda County, California, Volume 1'';p.441;[https://books.google.com/books?id=cBgVAAAAYAAJ&dq=population+of+livermore+california+1870&pg=PA450]</ref> The land for the tracks had already been signed over by Robert Livermore from his ranch in 1855, as surveyors had determined it was the best place to build.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Newton|first1=Janet|title=Railroad Land Grants and the Early Railroad History of the Livermore Valley|publisher=Livermore Valley History Center|url=https://lhg.org/Documents/Chapters/Railroad%20Land%20Grants.pdf}}</ref> The original railroad tracks went from [[Alameda Terminal]] to [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] over the nearby [[Altamont Pass]] in the east and [[Niles Canyon]] on the west.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

After it was destroyed by a fire in 1871,<ref name=":13" /> Laddsville gradually merged into Livermore.<ref name="isbn=978-0-7385-3099-4" /> The railroad significantly accelerated Livermore's growth,<ref name="depot" /> and the incorporation of Laddsville into the city added impetus;<ref name=":13" /> the city was officially [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] by the state on April 1, 1876.<ref name=":6">{{cite web |title=Livermore, Mission San Jose. - David Rumsey Historical Map Collection |url=http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~21426~630040:Livermore,-Mission-San-Jose-?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort,Pub_Date,Pub_List_No,Series_No&qvq=w4s:/when/1878;q:Livermore;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort,Pub_Date,Pub_List_No,Series_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=9&trs=11 |access-date=June 5, 2018 |website=www.davidrumsey.com}}</ref> At the time the town had a population of about 830 people in 234 buildings.<ref name=":13" /> It had 13 saloons.<ref name=":13" />