The Iron Triangle, sometimes known as Central Richmond, is a neighborhood in
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a city council.
. It is a largely residential area but includes the
downtown Richmond
Downtown Richmond is the central business district of Richmond, Virginia. It is generally defined as being bound by Belvidere Street to the west, I-95 to the north and east, and the James River to the south. The Fan district borders it to the ...
business district along
Macdonald Avenue
Macdonald Avenue is the main east-to-west artery in Richmond, California.Cutting Boulevard Cutting Boulevard is a major east–west arterial trunk road in the city of Richmond, California.
History
It is named after Henry Cutting, the founder of the Port of Richmond. It begins in the historic neighborhood of Point Richmond at the base ...
and near Interstate 580 are also in the neighborhood if the more extensive of two possible definitions of its area is used.
History
Nomenclature
The neighborhood gets its name from three major railroad tracks which form a rough triangle and define its boundaries. The northeastern side of the Iron Triangle is the
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
/
BART
Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc.
Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...
tracks that run beside Carlson Boulevard, Espee Avenue, Portola Avenue, and 13th Street. The
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
tracks that parallel Richmond Parkway/Garrard Boulevard form the northwest side of the triangle. Normally, the southern side of the triangle is considered to be the now abandoned Santa Fe tracks that ran between Ohio and Chanslor Avenues and are currently being developed as the
Richmond Greenway
The Richmond Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle path in Richmond, California.BNSF
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
community. It has a population of 19,807 and is roughly 66% African-American.
The Latino community has been growing in the Iron Triangle since the late 1980s, making up about 34 percent of Iron Triangle's population. The first Mexican community in Richmond started in the lower part of the Iron Triangle at the bottom of Macdonald Ave below 5th St and at A St and B St in the 1920s.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
began bringing Mexican workers to work in the Santa Fe Rail Yard in Richmond. The Railroad also built a Housing Project for Mexican railroad workers called Section housing which was located on Macdonald Avenue and Gerrard Blvd. A small Mexican community started to form at the bottom of Macdonald Ave that grew during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, especially by Mexican-American shipyard workers who came from the Southwestern United States. There were several Mexican-owned businesses in the Iron Triangle during that war era: La Perla, Richmond's first Mexican grocery store; Gonzales Mexican Restaurant; and The Rio Theater which showed Mexican movies.
Reputation
The Iron Triangle is also known as a high-crime area and has become known as a 'warzone' in neighboring cities. (In fact, its name reflects that of the Iron Triangle of the Vietnam war era.) Residents are attempting to reverse this image in a number of ways. One of these is the new East Bay Center for the Performing Arts (completed in 2011) at MacDonald and 11th St, which contains the aptly-named Iron Triangle Theater.
Lillie May Jones
Lillie May Jones was an Iron Triangle resident and long time activist in the neighborhood. She advocated for the creation of the
Richmond Greenway
The Richmond Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle path in Richmond, California.rails to trails project, community gardens, environmental education, and flower planting. ''
East Bay Times
The ''East Bay Times'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, United States, owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of Media News Group, that serves Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa and Al ...