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Development of Stockton’s downtown business district began near the head of navigation of the Stockton Channel, in the area bound by Hunter, El Dorado, Channel and Levee (now  Weber Ave.) Streets. The El Dorado Street Bridge was built in 1855 and the waterfront continued to grow and thrive. Steamers carried freight and passengers to and from San Francisco. Virtually everything grown or manufactured in Stockton was exported from the Stockton Channel and its wharves. Some of Stockton’s most famous exports included Sperry’s Drifted Snow Flour, Pomodoro tomatoes from the Tillie Lewis Cannery and George “The Potato King” Shima’s renowned, peat grown spuds. Several foundries and metalworking businesses operated along the channel, including Stockton Iron Works, founded in 1868 and Stockton’s oldest continuously operating foundry and machine shop.
As early as 1870, business leaders began to explore how they might deepen and straighten the Stockton Channel. Dredging began and continued into the 1920’s, until bond money was finally provided in 1931 and the modern port of Stockton began. The head of navigation was relocated west on the channel twice from Hunter Street (under the Hotel Stockton) to its present location at Center Street. Construction of the Center Street Bridge in the early 1950’s separated the headwaters from the rest of the channel and cut off boat access. Timber piles were eventually driven into the channel bed and a concrete slab was poured, creating a parking lot the size of a city block, with a gas station located in the northeast corner. As the parking lot and support timbers began to deteriorate, the lot began to sag and eventually it was condemned and fenced off.
 True to its history of constant evolution to meet the needs of Stockton and its waterfront businesses, this site underwent another transformation in 2001. As a catalyst project for Stockton’s current redevelopment, an urban square was designed to link new businesses and facilities. Today’s Dean DeCarli Waterfront Square operates as a vital public space, incorporating the channel’s waters, its waterfowl and landscaping with the citizens of Stockton. No longer an active participant in the waterfront’s commerce, DeCarli Square instead serves as support for the new businesses surrounding it such as the City Centre Cineplex, its adjoining restaurants and cafes and the new enterprises moving into the Hotel Stockton.
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