The Arcadia Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.

When the first settlers arrived here in 1850, they could never have guessed that their tiny settlement would one day be home to over 100,000 souls, scores of factories, and the gateway to the California Delta with some of the most productive agricultural lands in the world. In earlier days, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers were the main routes into the state's interior, as the swampy delta land had yet to be tamed. Antioch and nearby Pittsburgh served as major depots for supplies to the Sierra gold fields, stockpiling lumber, produce, hay, dry goods, medicine, and fuel from the Stewartville, Empire, and Judsonville coal mines. Named in 1851 after the biblical city in Syria, this town served for many years as the Bay Area's easternmost outpost and provided its inhabitants with a bounty both man-made and natural.

The Antioch Historical Society presents this amazing collection of vintage images detailing its early days of agriculture and deep water shipping and working its way to present times. Along the way, readers will see the now disappearing paper industry at its peak, salmon fishing fleets, theaters, community and church activities, distilleries, and a bustling waterfront and railroad depot that live on in today's reemerging historic waterfront district.

The book is a new, trade paperback, published in 2005 by Arcadia Publishing. It measures 9" x 6" and weighs 0.65 pounds.