Welcome to the Wine Country

CITIES: Big and Small

SANTA ROSA: Settled: 1837, incorporated March 15, 1869 Size: 36 square miles City Hall: 100 Santa Rosa Ave., 95404 (707)524-5361 Population 1998: 128,300

SANTA ROSA was settled by Missouri farmers and frontiersmen and stood as a stronghold for the Confederacy in a Yankee county during the Civil War. The center of a farming area, Santa Rosa grew to 50,000 people by 1970 and then, bolstered by well-to-do commuters and retirees, doubled in size in less than 20 years.

Although the city is only 52 miles north of San Francisco, Santa Rosans no longer rely on trips to The City for entertainment, dining and shopping. Dozens of ethnic restaurants and smart boutiques have sprung up in bright new business parks and along the tree-lined downtown streets. The city is home to 11 theater groups, including the nationally respected Summer Repertory Theatre at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Santa Rosa – “The City Designed for Living” – has had its own symphony for 65 years and the Burbank Center for Performing Arts brings star-studded road shows, including opera and dance.

Santa Rosa, the seat of Sonoma County government as well at the County’s largest city, is a trade center for California north of the Bay Area with an economic base of high-technology manufacturing, retailing, government, and financial services.

It all began in 1837…Santa Rosa was settled in 1837 by a Mexican noblewoman, Dona Maria Carrillo, who established the Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa, an 8,800 acre ranch. She built an adobe home on what is now Montgomery Drive just east of St. Eugene’s Church.

PETALUMA: Settled: 1936, incorporated April 12, 1858 Size: 13.26 square miles City Hall: 11 English St. , 94952-2610 (707)778-4345 Population 1997: 48,550

PETALUMA, the second largest and southernmost city of Sonoma County, straddles Highway 101 and the Petaluma River, a meandering waterway that connects the city’s past, present and future to the San Francisco Bay.

Started as a riverbank hunting camp, Petaluma quickly grew into an agricultural, trade and industrial hub that by 1918 proclaimed itself “The Egg Basket of the World” and was the richest city of its size in the United States.

Although the poultry industry has evolved from small chicken houses to large National producers, Petaluma remains a farm center.

Meanwhile a huge wave of service, manufacturing and high-tech firms has rolled into the 10 business parks. Petaluma has become the heart of California’s “TELECOM VALLEY”.

A ferry service, waterfront eateries and offices reflect a rekindled interest in the river, celebrated during the Petaluma River Festival in August. The city boasts 142 restaurants and delicatessens, a municipal airport, marina and public golf course.

IT’S THE HILLS: Petaluma comes from the Indian words meaning “duck hills” or “little hills”, for the number of small mounds found throughout the Petaluma Valley.

ROHNERT PARK: Settled: 1958, incorporated August 28, 1962. Size: 6.8 square miles City Hall: 6750 Commerce Blvd., 94928 (707)793-7200 Population 1998: 39,200

ROHNERT PARK came out of nowhere. Unlike Sonoma County’s other cities, Rohnert Park’s rural roots go no deeper than 1954, when Santa Rosa attorneys Paul Golis and Maurice Fredericks brainstormed the idea of planting a city on the flatlands of the 26 year old Rohnert Seed Farm founded in 1929 by Waldo Rohnert.

In 1957 the town’s first homes were built. The town quickly became a city tied together by a string of housing subdivisions without an identifiable downtown. But Rohnert Park, nicknamed “The Friendly City”, offered something else – a sense of family.

Rohnert Park was built on a neighborhood concept that placed parks, schools and swimming pools in the center of each 200 – 250 home subdivisions.

California State University (Sonoma), the Rohnert Park Stadium, Peter M. Callinan Sports Center and Dorothy Rohnert Spreckels Performing Arts Center later were built to add to the city’s educational, cultural and recreational diversity.

HEALDSBURG: Settled: 1852, incorporated in 1967. Size: 3.5 square miles City Hall: 126 Matheson St. 95448 (707) 431-3317 Population 1996: 9,800

Select a City: