The Suisun Rancho, in which Cordelia is located, was one of the first five Mexican land grants in the area that became Solano County. The Mexican government granted the rancho to Chief Solano of the Suisun tribe in 1845. The land was then sold to General Mariano G. Vallejo and in 1850 to Archibald A. Ritchie and Captain Robert H. Waterman. Waterman is credited with founding Cordelia, named for his wife, in 1850. In 1851, Josiah Wing founded Suisun City, which proved to be a better shipping point. This prompted Waterman to found the neighboring city of Fairfield in 1856, shifting his attention away from Cordelia. Cordelia was originally established about a mile north of its present location, at the head of Cordelia Slough near the abandoned Santa Eulalia Mission, built in 1824 and run by Chief Solano, where a small settlement already existed. However, in 1868 the town was relocated closer to the newly constructed transcontinental railroad. The new location was named Bridgeport, after Cordelia Waterman's hometown in Connecticut, but the post office objected that the name was not unique, so the town once again became Cordelia. Hunters found the nearby Suisun Marsh to be a great location for game. Chris Dunker, pictured in a photograph from about 1890, was the son of Henry Dunker, one of the first German immigrants to settle in Cordelia. Henry owned the Dunker Brothers' Slaughterhouse, built many of the Victorian homes in the area, and played a significant role in the development of Cordelia. The Green Valley Schoolhouse, built around 1870 on Ritchie Road about 500 feet north of Cordelia Road, was a one-room schoolhouse with two sets of stairs leading to two front doors, one for girls and one for boys. In 1883, a bell tower was added and has since been relocated to Green Valley Middle School. Dan White, shown in a photograph from about 1890 as the schoolmaster, later served as Superintendent for the Green Valley School District for 40 years. The old schoolhouse was damaged by fire in 2003 and torn down in 2006, but the unusual tree beside it remains.