Lodi (Images of America)

Originally founded as the town of Mokelumne in 1869, Lodi formed when a group of settlers persuaded the Central Pacific Railroad to build a route from Sacramento to Stockton through their land. Mokelumne changed its name to Lodi in 1874 and incorporated as a city in 1906. Described early on as the queen city of the San Joaquin Valley, the Lodi area quickly boomed into an agricultural powerhouse, its fertile soil producing wheat, watermelons, orchards, and wine grapes. Laura DeForce Gordon, the second female lawyer in California, called Lodi home, as did winemaking pioneer Robert Mondavi. Lodi is also the birthplace of A&W Root Beer, first sold by Roy Allen at his drugstore on Pine Street. Today Lodi boasts over 75,000 acres of vineyards and 60 wineries, producing over 40 percent of California’s zinfandel grapes and making this town the zinfandel capital of the world.