Tormey, formerly known as El Cierbo from the (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

word 'Ciervo' for 'Elk' (''Cervus canadensis''), is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Contra Costa County Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish language, Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a U.S. county, county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. It is located between

Rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...

and Crockett on the edge of the

ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in t ...

oil refinery in Rodeo. It is west-northwest of Martinez, at an elevation of 20 feet (6 m). The community is home to less than a dozen homes and the former offices of the John Swett Unified School District.JSUSD website
Via archive.org. April 19, 2000. Accessed on 2007-09-24.

History

Originally a company town for management and refinery workers at the Selby Smelter,

American Smelting and Refining Company ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company) is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona, which mines and processes primarily copper. The company has been a subsidiary of Grupo México since 1999. Its three largest o ...

. Tormey is located astride old

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

, now San Pablo Avenue. Old County Road offshoots from it and at the end there is a water reservoir. The former Southern Pacific Railroad and now its new owner since 1996, the Union Pacific Railroad, skirts the bayshore side of Tormey. In the 1940s and '50s the Tormey Store served many of the grocery needs of the residents. The Hogg family managed the store with its single gasoline pump for many years. The town is named for Patrick Tormey, who purchased the property from the

Ygnacio Martinez Ygnacio may refer to: Given name: *Ygnacio Coronel (1795–1862), settler in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles of Mexican Alta California *Luis Ygnacio Liendo (born 1980), amateur Venezuelan Greco-Roman wrestler in the men's lightweight category *Ygnacio ...

Rancho El Pinole Rancho El Pinole was a Mexican land grant along Carquinez Strait in present-day Contra Costa County, California. It was given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Ygnacio Martinez, a Californio military commander and politician. Rancho El Pino ...

estate. A post office operated at Tormey from 1891 to 1892.

Geography

Although the area is unincorporated, many times it is referred to as being in the Crockett hills. It is considered as part of Crockett. The ZIP Code is 94525. The community is inside

area code 510 Area codes 510 and 341 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) serving much of the East Bay in the U.S. state of California. They cover parts of Contra Costa County and western Alameda County, including the city of ...

. The mouth of

Cañada del Cierbo Cañada may refer to: Places Argentina *Cañada de Gómez, Santa Fe province *Cañada Rosquín, Santa Fe province * La Cañada, Santiago del Estero Mexico * Cañada, Alaquines, San Luis Potosí * Cañadas de Obregón, Jalisco *Cañada de la ...

Creek is located in Tormey.

References

Unincorporated communities in California Company towns in California Populated places established in 1891 Unincorporated communities in Contra Costa County, California 1891 establishments in California Populated coastal places in California {{ContraCostaCountyCA-geo-stub