Cordelia began mainly as a stagecoach stop between Benicia and Sacramento, but its fertile land, ship access, and railroad connection soon made it and the neighboring valleys one of California's most important fruit-growing regions. Founded in 1850 just north of its present location, the town was relocated in 1868 beside the new depot of the nearly complete transcontinental railroad, and the railroad became vital to its growth by bringing mail and essentials and carrying students to Suisun City for the walk to Armijo High School. Between 1890 and 1915, Cordelia reached its greatest economic growth and provided essential services to the surrounding area, including livery stables, a slaughterhouse, butcher shop, meat market, schoolhouse, post office, library, firehouse, constable's office, blacksmith's shop, hat shop, ice cream shop, two churches, two wineries, two general stores, three hotels, and five saloons, as well as its own newspaper, the Cordelia Xray, and a brass band. Cordelia was also known for stone quarried from nearby Nelson Hill and used to pave the streets of San Francisco. At the turn of the 20th century, the town had many saloons, including Thompson's Corner Saloon, built in 1902 and originally named Studer's Casino after owner Henry Studer, which also had a second-floor meeting hall for school plays, graduations, and the annual masquerade ball, a wrap-around porch, and a general store in the rear. Many early residents of Cordelia and the nearby valleys were German immigrants. Cordelia's three hotels housed many local quarry workers, including the Moiles Hotel, built in the early 1880s across the railroad tracks on the south side of Bridgeport Road; after it was blown off its foundation during the Port Chicago blast in 1944, it remained standing until the 1970s, and its masonry root cellar, built in 1897 with stone from the Nelson Hill Quarry, still survives in good condition.