Railroad Square in downtown Santa Rosa,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979. The area is bounded by Third, Davis, Wilson, Sixth Streets, and Santa Rosa Creek.

History

The Northwestern Pacific Railroad arrived in 1871 and promoted early development of the neighborhood, increasing the population of Santa Rosa from 1,000 to 5,000 within five years. The neighborhood features primarily brick buildings constructed by stonemasons from Northern Italy, noted for withstanding the 1906 earthquake. Fifteen buildings deemed historically significant were constructed between 1888 and 1923. West of the railroad tracks, the growing Italian-American immigrant community developed the West End neighborhood of primarily

single-family home A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling, single-family residence (SFR) or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family residential dwelling. Definitions ...

s. Construction of United States Highway 101 and

California State Route 12 State Route 12 (SR 12) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that travels in an east–west direction from California State Route 116, SR 116 in Sebastopol, California, Sebastopol in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County ...

separated Railroad Square from the broader downtown. Consequently, the district has retained its historic character to a unique degree of architectural homogeneity. This separation also exacerbated economic hardship in the area from the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

through the

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

of the twentieth century. The construction of the Santa Rosa Plaza mall in the late 1970s saw a further detached Railroad Square develop into a

skid row A skid row, also called skid road, is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to people who are poor or homeless, considered disre ...

. The Santa Rosa Downtown station has served Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART)

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

trains since 2017.

Tourism

Railroad Square has recently positioned itself as a tourism center of

Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

's Redwood Empire and Wine Country, with 325 beds across three hotels in the district: the Hotel La Rose, built in 1907 and separately designated on the

; the

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational corporation, multinational hospitality company headquartered in the 150 North Riverside, Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchise ...

Vineyard Creek Hotel & Spa; and the Courtyard Marriott. The free Railroad Square Music Festival has been held every June since 2015.

References

External links

History
Historic Railroad Square Association
Downtown Map
City of Santa Rosa {{National Register of Historic Places in California Neighborhoods in Santa Rosa, California National Register of Historic Places in Sonoma County, California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California 1979 establishments in California