Applegate 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 ...

Placer County Placer County ( ; ''Placer'', Spanish language, Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was ...

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 ...

. It is south-southwest of Colfax, and northeast of Auburn. The city's msl elevation is . Its ZIP code is 95703 and its

area code 530 Area codes 530 and 837 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) in northeastern and Northern California. 530 was created in 1997 in an area code split of 916 and 837 was added to the same numbering plan area as an ov ...

. Applegate was originally settled in 1849 by Lisbon Applegate, who came to California with his son, George, from Missouri. Part of a family that first emigrated to America in the 17th century, the Applegates bought acreage above

Clipper Gap, California Clipper Gap (also, Clippergap) is an unincorporated community in Placer County, California. Clipper Gap is located north-northeast of Auburn. It lies at an elevation of 1676 feet (511 m). The first transcontinental railroad reached Clipper G ...

, and established a fruit ranch there. The main house of the Applegate Ranch was where Oliver's gas station and bar sits today. Lisbon eventually returned to Missouri but his son, George W. Applegate, stayed. As the town grew, it was called Bear River House for its proximity to the Bear River, a short distance northwest. When a post office was established in 1855, the community officially became known as Lisbon in honor of its founder. George W. Applegate became postmaster, and in the 1870s, the settlement was renamed Applegate, also to honor its founder. At one time, Applegate was a station on the Central Pacific Railroad (later Southern Pacific). When a second track was added in 1929, the station on the eastbound track was named East Applegate. The tracks are separated by about . From ''Placer GOLD'', November 1973; "Applegate is a quiet little town about eight miles northeast of Auburn, rudely severed in two parts by

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

. The town consists of a post office, motel, hardware store, grocery and saloon-and something else..." Applegate is also the only known place in Northern California where the Ladyfoot Trumpet flower grows wild. Some people believe that its seeds were left here long ago when the Lemurians passed through on their way to

Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( ; Shasta people, Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk language, Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a Volcano#Volcanic activity, potentially active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. A ...

Climate

Applegate has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

that is characterized by cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers (Köppen climate classification Csa).

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Placer County, California Unincorporated communities in the Sacramento metropolitan area Populated places established in 1849 1849 establishments in California