Lincoln is a city in Placer County, California, United States, part of the Sacramento metropolitan area.

The original townsite was surveyed and laid out in 1859 by Theodore Judah along the proposed line of the California Central Railroad.

Grading from Folsom to Marysville commenced in 1858 and was completed up to Grider's Ranch (Roseville) by 1859.

[12] With the help of the Chinese laborers, the company was able to complete the railroad to Lincoln on October 14, 1861.

[15] At this point, due to a lack of funds, further construction on the California Central was temporarily halted and Lincoln experienced a small-scale boom as the northern terminus of this new railroad.

Within a few years, however, more investors were found and the line was extended to Wheatland, in Yuba County, bringing an end to this early stage of Lincoln's development.

When most of its population and business moved on with the railroad, the town settled into a lull until the early 1870s, when rich clay deposits of the Ione Formation were discovered nearby.

This led to the establishment of Gladding, McBean & Co., the pottery for which Lincoln is now famous, ushering in a new era of prosperity and growth.

Lincoln remained a sleepy town until the mid-1990s, when the suburbs of Sacramento started expanding beyond nearby Roseville.

As of the[update] 2010 census, the population was 42,819, for a growth rate of 282 percent since 2000, making Lincoln the fastest-growing city in the United States over that decade.

[citation needed] In 2006, Lincoln was named an All-America City by the National Civic League.

Lincoln has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) that is characterized by cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers.

The cooling effect of the delta breeze from the Bay Area helps bring night temperatures down to comfortable levels.