Lincoln sits in southern Placer County, roughly ten miles north of Roseville and about thirty miles northeast of downtown Sacramento, within the Sacramento metropolitan area. The city lies on the rolling lower slopes of the Sierra Nevada foothills, with the valley floor to the west and rising terrain to the east. For a place known today as a fast-growing suburban destination, Lincoln has unusually deep roots: it was founded in the 1850s and took shape around the discovery of rich deposits of white kaolin clay, which drew the pottery and pipe manufacturers who put the young town on the map. The defining institution is Gladding, McBean & Company, established in 1875 by Charles Gladding, Peter McGill McBean, and George Chambers. Their works produced the first clay sewer pipe west of the Rocky Mountains, and the company — one of California's oldest continuously operating manufacturers — still turns out architectural terra cotta, roof tile, and other clay products from its plant in the city. That industrial heritage gives Lincoln a character distinct from many of its Sacramento-region neighbors: an old downtown grid and historic clayworks sit alongside the master-planned communities that have reshaped the city's edges over recent decades. The population has expanded dramatically, growing by more than 280 percent between 2000 and 2010, at one point making Lincoln among the fastest-growing cities of its size in the country, to roughly 58,000 residents today. That growth has brought families, commuters, and retirees drawn to the foothill setting and the newer residential areas that spread outward from the historic core. Thunder Valley Casino Resort, a major regional employer and entertainment venue, sits just outside the city center and draws visitors from across the Sacramento region. Today Lincoln functions as a full-service suburb of the greater Sacramento area while retaining the feel of a smaller foothill town, with civic life oriented around the downtown, local parks, and institutions that have anchored it for more than a century.