ROCKLIN, California

Rocklin is one of the most enjoyable, safe, and family-friendly communities in all of California. In fact, Family Circus magazine recently named Rocklin one of its “10 Best Towns” for families in America, the only one on that list in California. And looking up the City of Rocklin’s formal mission statement, it’s not hard to see why. City planners strive “to become a city that provides its citizens with exceptional quality of life while maintaining its small-town sense of community.”

Rocklin is also one of the safest communities to live in. In fact, when it comes to property crime, there is only a 1 in 57 chance of becoming a victim in Rocklin, compared to 1 in 38 for all of California. And violent crime is almost nonexistent, with only a 1 in 933 chance of becoming a victim in Rocklin, compared to 1 in 249 in the rest of California.

History:

The area of modern-day Rocklin, like most of the region, was first settled as a function of the Gold Rush. When the transcontinental railroad was completed, Rocklin became a popular stop in 1864 and was officially incorporated in 1893. By 1910, gold was no longer being panned from the hills, but the granite industry was in full swing, attracting Irish, Spanish, and Finnish immigrants. In fact, granite unearthed in Rocklin was used to construct the state capitol building in Sacramento and many other buildings in San Francisco.

The first residential development sprung forth when the 30,000-acre Whitney Ranch was subdivided in the 1950s and 1960s, giving birth to the Sunset Whitney neighborhood. High-tech firms and other industries began relocating to Rocklin in the 1980s, attracted by its educated work force, low cost of doing business, and proximity to Sacramento. Since then, the Stanford Ranch, Whitney Oaks, and Whitney Ranch neighborhoods have been well developed.

• Johnny Davis, kickboxer
• Brotha Lynch Hung, rapper
• Jeffrey Leonard, retired MLB All-Star and professional baseball player, most notably for the San Francisco Giants
• Kevin Martin, shooting guard of the Minnesota Timberwolves
• Geoff Petrie, General Manager of the Sacramento Kings
• John Romero, video game designer and programmer. Co-founder of id Software, creator of the video games Wolfenstein 3D, Doom (series), Quake (video game)
• Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Home Improvement
• Karyn White, pop singer

As of 1910, 22 granite quarries were operating in Rocklin. These granite mines were so bountiful that in 1912, nearly 2,000 train carloads of granite were shipped out to become part of the state capitol building and other buildings in San Francisco.

Source: History of Rocklin