Template:Wp-Lincoln, California-History

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The original townsite was surveyed and laid out in 1859 by Theodore Judah along the proposed line of the California Central Railroad. The name "Lincoln" was conferred in honor of Charles Lincoln Wilson, one of the organizers, a fundraiser, and management contractor of the California Central Railroad (CCRR). The CCRR was planned as a rail link between the cities of Marysville and Sacramento via a connection to the Sacramento Valley Railroad in Folsom. Grading from Folsom to Marysville commenced in 1858 and was completed to Grider's Ranch (Roseville) by 1859.

At Auburn Ravine, where the line makes an elbow and turns northward toward Marysville, a new railroad town Lincoln was located by Judah with town lots on sale from Wilson. At an auction in Sacramento on November 23, 1859, over $4,000 was raised from the sales of lots in Lincoln, ranging from $20 to $400 for each lot. With the grading on the first division of the road from Folsom completed eighteen miles to Lincoln, track laying began at Folsom on December 30, 1859. With the help of the Chinese laborers, the company was able to complete the railroad to Lincoln on October 14, 1861. The completion of the railroad "changed the appearance of the locality, and breathed into the town the breath of life", birthing probably the first platted railroad town in California.

At this point, due to a lack of funds, further construction on the California Central was temporarily halted and Lincoln experienced a small-scale boom as the northern terminus of this new road. Within a few years, however, more investors were found and the line was extended to Wheatland, in Yuba County, bringing an end to this early stage of Lincoln's development.

When most of its population and business moved on with the railroad, the town settled into a lull until the early 1870s, when rich clay deposits of the Ione Formation were discovered nearby. This led to the establishment of Gladding, McBean & Co., the pottery for which Lincoln is famous, ushering in a new era of prosperity and growth.

Lincoln remained a sleepy town until the mid-1990s, when the suburbs of Sacramento started expanding beyond nearby Roseville. The city is now experiencing a new period of growth. As of the 2010 census, the population was 42,819, for a growth rate of 282.1% since 2000, making Lincoln the fastest-growing city in the United States over that decade.^[1]

In June 2004, Lincoln gained additional notoriety when it opened the first casino in the greater Sacramento Metropolitan Area, Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

In 2006, Lincoln was named an All-America City by the National Civic League. It was the only California city to be named an All-America City that year and only one of 10 cities to receive the prestigious award.