Latrobe (formerly, La Trobe) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

El Dorado County El Dorado County (), officially the County of El Dorado, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 191,185. The county seat is Placerville. The County is part of the Sacramento- Roseville-A ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Today a small community, in its heyday it was an important railroad town with a population of 700 to 800. Latrobe was the terminus of the Placerville and Sacramento Rail Road. The name, bestowed by F.A. Bishop, chief engineer of the railroad, was in honor of

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II Benjamin Henry Latrobe II (December 19, 1806 – October 19, 1878) was an American civil engineer, best known for his railway bridges, and a railway executive. Personal life Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 19, 1806, he was the ...

, chief engineer of the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

, America's first railroad. A post office operated at Latrobe from 1864 to 1921.

Geography

Latrobe is located southwest of Placerville, at an elevation of 761 feet (232 m). According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Latrobe has a

warm-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Latrobe, California
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References

Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in El Dorado County, California Populated places established in 1864 {{ElDoradoCountyCA-geo-stub