{"nrhp_refnum":"71000174","name":"Locke Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded on the W by the Sacramento River, on the N by Locke Rd., on the E by Alley St., and on the S by Levee St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Locke","county":"Sacramento County","state":"CA","lat":38.25129637300006,"lon":-121.51005162899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-05-06","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1990-12-14","areas_of_significance":["Asian","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering the town of Locke on the Sacramento River levee in Sacramento County, California, founded in 1915 by Chinese businessmen from nearby Walnut Grove. It covers about 3.5 acres of one- and two-story commercial and residential buildings.","why_significant":"The nomination argues Locke is the last vestige of a single Chinese community, created by people who had helped build the first transcontinental railroad and the Delta levee system. Its turn-of-the-century river-town architecture and continuity of Cantonese-speaking residents are also cited. Little had changed since its founding.","narrative":"Locke is a small river town on the Sacramento River levee in Sacramento County, California. Founded in 1915, it consists of about four blocks of one- and two-story commercial and residential buildings, with a single narrow main street one block from the levee. After a fire destroyed most of the Chinese section of Walnut Grove in 1915, a group of ten to twelve Chinese businessmen led by Charlie Lee Bing moved about a mile upstream onto land owned by the Locke family and established the town. The wooden, false-fronted buildings with balconies nearly touching across the street reflect the architecture of turn-of-the-century river towns. Many were unpainted and leaning, and most commercial space was unoccupied when described. The district was listed because it was seen as the last vestige of a Chinese community founded by people who helped build the transcontinental railroad and the Delta levees. Its residents were mainly elderly Chinese speakers of Cantonese, and no new building had been added in fifty years.","period_of_significance":"1915","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"False-fronted, woodcutters' gothic commercial structures typical of turn-of-the-century small river towns","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked deteriorated and unaltered. Most main street commercial buildings were unoccupied, some second-story residential use remained, and loading sheds were in use by commercial boating interests.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.238328-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/71000174.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000174/f29abbc95e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000174/f29abbc95e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Locke_p1080790.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Locke_p1080790.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860628","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locke,_California","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3476716"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/sacramento-county/locke-historic-district-71000174/"}