Concord, California

**Concord** is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, US. In the 2020 census, 125,410 people lived there. Concord was founded in 1869. It was named **Todos Santos** at first, but the name was soon changed to Concord. The city is  east of San Francisco.

## Geography

Concord is at . It is  northeast of San Francisco,  northeast of Oakland,  southwest of Sacramento, and  north of San Jose.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of . All of it is land.

The center of downtown Concord is Todos Santos Plaza. The plaza takes up an entire city block. It is known for its farmers market, free summer concerts, and many restaurants.  There are new apartments and condominiums near the plaza.

## History

Concord was first named Todos Santos.  In the 19th century, most people in Pacheco moved to Concord to get away from fires and floods.  Concord became a city on February 5, 1905.

The area around Concord in the Ygnacio and Clayton Valleys was a big farming area. To the east, where the Concord Naval Weapons Station was later built, there were big wheat ranches over . They covered the land all the way to the marshes by Suisun Bay. During Prohibition, many vineyards were removed and replaced with walnut trees.

The first Concord post office opened in 1872.

### Port Chicago disaster

On July 17, 1944, the weapons on a United States Navy ship exploded. This caused the highest number of deaths at a time among African Americans during World War II. The explosion killed 320 people. The explosion was felt 30 miles away.  Later, 258 African American sailors refused to load any more weapons. That was the start of the Navy's biggest-ever mutiny trial. In that trial, 50 men were found guilty. Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was at the trial. He said that he saw a prejudiced court.

### Sunvalley Mall plane crash

On December 23, 1985, a small airplane crashed into the roof of Sunvalley Mall. The pilot and two people on the plane were killed. 84 people in the mall were hurt, mostly from burning fuel.  Four of the people in the mall later died from their injuries.  The accident made more people be against the local airport. Pacific Southwest Airlines delayed starting passenger service there that had been planned for the new year.

## Naval Weapons Station

North of the city of Concord is the Concord Naval Weapons Station. It was opened in 1942. During World War II, weapons were kept there. The weapons were for warships at Port Chicago. The Concord NWS helped war efforts during the Vietnam War and through the end of the Gulf War, taking care of equipment and supplies.

The station has two main areas. One is the Inland Area, , which is inside the Concord city limits. The other is the Tidal Area, .  Because of changes in military operations, parts of the Inland Area stopped being used. By 1999, the station had only a few military people working there. In 2007 the United States government decided to close the inland part of the station. The Tidal area of the base stayed open.  The city of Concord is working on a plan for how to use the land.  Their plans will have to be approved by the Navy.

## Transportation

Until 1995 the city was the eastern end of the Concord line of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) commuter train system. Since then, more track was built. BART now goes farther than Concord. Bus service runs in the city and other points in the county.

Interstate 680 goes through Concord. So do state highways 4 and 242.

Buchanan Field Airport is a public county-owned airport in the City of Concord.  It currently does not have any scheduled passenger service. It was once served by WestAir, Pacific Southwest Airlines, and later U.S. Airways for a short time. In 1977, Buchanan Field reached its peak of activity with 357,000 total operations making it the 16th busiest airport in the nation that year.

## Education

Concord has several public high schools:
- Clayton Valley High School, opened in 1958
- Concord High School, opened in 1966
- Mt. Diablo High School, opened in 1905
- Ygnacio Valley High School, opened in 1960

There are also two private Catholic high schools:
- De La Salle High School, for boys. De La Salle's football team set a record by winning 151 games in a row between 1992 and 2004.
- Carondelet High School, for girls

California State University, East Bay has a campus in Concord.

## Arts and culture

The Concord Jazz Festival is held every year..

Concord is also home to the 14-time World Champion Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps.  The corps is made up of talented musicians from around the world.  The Concord Blue Devils are the most decorated drum and bugle corps in the history of Drum Corps International.

## Points of interest

- Sleep Train Pavilion - a major concert venue formerly known as the Concord Pavilion, and also as Chronicle Pavilion at Concord.
- Sunvalley Mall
- Farmer's Market concerts and movies at Todos Santos Plaza
- Buchanan Field Airport
- Camp Concord, at South Lake Tahoe, a family-oriented Summer Camp, although not located _in_ Concord, is operated by the city.
- Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
- Six Flags Waterworld Concord
- Starting Point of the Iron Horse Regional Trail

## Sister city

In 1974 Concord became a sister city with Kitakami, Iwate, in Japan. The city built a small park in the city, and put half of a sculpture, _The Communion Bridge_, in it. The other half of the bridge is in Kitakami.

## Other websites

- Official Site
- List of Concord Landmarks and Historic Sites
- Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS): Current Status

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Concord, California
- **other name**: Todos Santos “La Purunga”
- **settlement type**: List of municipalities in California, City
- **image skyline**: Todos Santos Plaza (Concord, California) Dec 2009.jpg
- **image caption**: Salvio Pacheco Square facing Todos Santos Plazadowntown
- **image map**: File:Contra Costa County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Concord Highlighted 0616000.svg
- **map caption**: Location of Concord in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County
- **pushpin map**: USA#California
- **pushpin relief**: 1
- **pushpin map caption**: Location within the United States##Location within California
- **pushpin label**: Concord
- **pushpin label position**: center
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **subdivision name**: United States
- **subdivision type1**: U.S. state, State
- **subdivision name1**: California
- **subdivision type2**: List of counties in California, County
- **subdivision name2**: Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa
- **established title**: Municipal corporation, Incorporated
- **established date**: February 8, 1905
- **government type**: Council–manager government, City Council/City Manager
- **unit pref**: Imperial
- **area total sq mi**: 30.55
- **area land sq mi**: 30.55
- **area water sq mi**: 0.00
- **area total km2**: 79.13
- **area land km2**: 79.13
- **area water km2**: 0.00
- **elevation ft**: 75
- **elevation m**: 23
- **population as of**: 2020 United States Census, 2020
- **population total**: 125410
- **population density sq mi**: 4104.67
- **population density km2**: 1584.85
- **timezone**: Pacific Time Zone, Pacific
- **utc offset**: −8
- **timezone dst**: Pacific Daylight Time, PDT
- **utc offset dst**: −7
- **postal code type**: ZIP Codes
- **postal code**: 94518–94521
- **area code type**: North American Numbering Plan, Area code
- **area code**: Area code 925, 925
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS code
- **blank1 name**: Geographic Names Information System, GNIS feature IDs
- **blank1 info**: ,