United Way map showing concentrated poverty neighborhoods in West Contra Costa County http://www.uwba.org/helplink/datacentral.php

When Richmond incorporated as a city in 1905 it had a population of 2,150 and was already an established industrial town. Within a few years the construction of shipping-port terminals began and several substantial industries located in Richmond, including American Radiator, Standard Oil, and Stauffer Chemical Company. World War II brought the shipbuilding industry to Richmond and with it explosive growth, large scale in-migration of workers, a “boomtown” atmosphere, and profound long-term effects on the City. Richmond’s population increased dramatically from 23,600 in 1940 to over 93,700 in 1943 as new residents, primarily White and Black, migrated from the South and Southwest to work in the shipyards. After the war, the shipyards closed, industrial production rapidly declined and the population decreased from 101,500 in 1947 to 71,900 in 1960. The City’s population remained stable for 25 years, then grew steadily from 79,900 in 1987 to over 103,000 in 2008. Beginning in the 1980s, the proportion of Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino residents of Richmond has increased significantly.

Several East Bay regional parks lie within the city, linked by the San Francisco Bay Trail. The Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park commemorates women’s shipbuilding and support for the war effort in the 1940s.