Santa Rosa dates to 1833, and 16 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #87 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Santa Rosa was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. 16 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Luther Burbank House and Garden, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 22 buildings. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1852.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Santa Rosa’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Santa Rosa is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #87 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Santa Rosa’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Santa Rosa ranks #201 on History.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Santa Rosa’s 2.5 sits above most of its state (82% of California towns have fewer) while its 44 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1833.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Santa Rosa’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Santa Rosa’s post office has been open since 1852. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Santa Rosa
1852–today
Los Guilicos
1888–1889
Melitta
1891–1900
Annadel
1892–1893
Bellevue
1899–1900
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BellevueGravensteinLos GuilicosMcCauleyMelitaMonroeMontgomery VillageOakmontRoselandSouth Santa Rosa
Gone or out of use
BakulocaleHillcrest Detention HomebuildingLopus HospitalhospitalNaval Auxiliary Air Station Santa RosamilitaryRone HospitalhospitalSanta Rosa Air Parkairport
11cemeteries and burying grounds inside Santa Rosa
Beth AmiCalvary CatholicChapel of the ChimesFulkersonMokeOld CountyPythian HomeSanta Rosa Memorial ParkSanta Rosa Odd FellowsSanta Rosa RuralStanley
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every building
Santa Rosa, building by building, 1885–1908
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Before the arrival of Europeans, what became known as the Santa Rosa Plain was home to a strong and populous tribe of Pomo people known as the Bitakomtara. The Bitakomtara controlled the area closely, barring passage to others until permission was arranged. Those who entered without permission were subject to harsh penalties. The tribe gathered at ceremonial times on Santa Rosa Creek near present-day Spring Lake Regional Park.
Following the arrival of Europeans, initially Spanish explorers and colonists, the Pomos were decimated by violence, land grab, slavery, genocide and smallpox brought from Europe. Social displacement and disruption followed. There are descendants of survivors still living in the region today.
Passages that mention Santa Rosa, cut from the printed page as they were published.
An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time1889 · page 238Read the page →
Read the text
Santa Rosa Gaslight Cvuipany. — The Max ■ im Gas Company was incorporated April, 1872, the citizens of Santa Rosa taking one half the stock, and the Maxim Gas Company of San Francisco holding the balance. The whole stock was subsequently purchased by the citizens and the Maxim Works run by them until the spring of 1876, when they were disposed of to Santa
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time1889 · page 712Read the page →
Read the text
County, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1856. In that year he came to Sonoma County, and took up his residence in Santa Rosa. Here he purciiased twelve acres of land — wliat is now known as Kroucke's Park — which he planted with fruit trees, and, in 1859, he purchased 100 acres just east of the town of Santa Rosa. The subject of this sketch was a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Sonoma County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county, who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present time1911 · page 55Read the page →
Read the text
solemn manners of the white man won her childish confidence and she virtually left her people, their belief and traditions, and like another Ruth followed the stranger. When the Indian girl came out of the stream she was Rosa, a Christian maiden and the Jordan of her doctrinal purification was Santa Rosa creek, the day of her baptism being the feast day of Santa Rosa de Lima. This occurred a short distance east from the city of Santa Rosa, where Seriora Maria Ygnacia Lopez de Carrillo in 1838 built the large adobe which yet marks the place, although the suns and storms of seventy-two years have told heavily
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Santa Rosa, 1833 to 1982
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1833, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Santa Rosa’s post office opened in 1852, and the census of 1860 counted 1,623 people here.
How does Santa Rosa rank for history?
Santa Rosa is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #87 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Santa Rosa?
16 listings: 15 buildings, among them the Luther Burbank House and Garden (a National Historic Landmark since 1964), and 1 historic district, the Railroad Square District, with 22 contributing buildings. 44 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Santa Rosa?
5% of Santa Rosa’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1980.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (16), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
1897
1906
1906
1908
1908
1909
