Grass Valley, California
| City of Grass Valley | |
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| City | |
The historic Holbrooke Hotel and Restaurant
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 Location in Nevada County and the state of California |
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 City of Grass Valley
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| Coordinates: 39°13′9″N 121°3′30″W / 39.21917°N 121.05833°WCoordinates: 39°13′9″N 121°3′30″W / 39.21917°N 121.05833°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Nevada |
| Incorporated | March 13, 1893 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 4.743 sq mi (12.285 km2) |
| • Land | 4.743 sq mi (12.285 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) 0% |
| Elevation | 2,411 ft (735 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 12,860 |
| • Density | 2,700/sq mi (1,000/km2) |
| Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP codes | 95945, 95949 |
| Area code | 530 |
| FIPS code | 06-30798 |
| GNIS feature IDs | 277525, 2410651 |
| Website | www |
The city of Grass Valley is the largest city in the western region of Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly 2,500 feet (760 m) elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this historic northern Gold Country city is located 57 miles (92 km) by car from the state capitol in Sacramento, 64 miles (103 km) from Sacramento International Airport, 88 miles (142 km) west of Reno, Nevada, and 177 miles (285 km) northeast of San Jose, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 12,860.
Grass Valley, which was originally known as Boston Ravine and later officially named Centerville, dates from the California Gold Rush, as does nearby Nevada City. When a post office was established in 1851, it was renamed Grass Valley the following year for unknown reasons. The town incorporated in 1860.
Grass Valley is the location of the Empire Mine and North Star Mine, two of the richest mines in California. George Starr, manager of the Empire Mine, and William Bowers Bourn II, the mine owner, donated mine property which became Memorial Park.
Many of those who came to settle in Grass Valley were tin miners from Cornwall, England. They were attracted to the California gold fields because the same skills needed for deep tin mining were needed for hardrock (deep) gold mining. Many of them specialized in pumping the water out of very deep mining shafts. This followed the disastrous fall in tin prices as large alluvial deposits began to be exploited elsewhere.
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