Sonoma Plaza: Did You Know?
Sonoma’s Plaza, at the very heart of town, symbolizes the dynamic mix of old and new that makes the town special. It’s ancient, but it’s also where residents come to play. They enjoy the lively Tuesday night farmers market, watch the ducks cavort in the pond, meet friends over coffee, or just sit on a bench and watch the world go by.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently recognized the town’s commitment to preserving its history, naming Sonoma one of the nation’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations for 2011.
To honor that designation, here are 15 things you might not know about Sonoma Plaza:
1. Sonoma’s Mission San Francisco de Solano was the last of California’s 21 missions, founded in 1824.
2. Gen. Mariano Vallejo established the pueblo at Sonoma, the northernmost base of the Mexican government, in 1835. The Plaza and many of the buildings he erected around it remain today.
3. In its earliest days, the Plaza was a treeless, unattractive cattle yard where animals were frequently slaughtered. Early pioneers wrote about the unpleasant stench that surrounded it.
4. The Blue Wing Adobe, built by Vallejo in 1840, was once the town’s finest hotel (also the finest gambling den and saloon). Over the years, its guests included future generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman, Capt. John C. Fremont and notorious bandit Joaquin Murietta.
5. The plaza’s beloved duck pond got its start in the 1840s, when deep holes were dug for soil used to make adobe bricks. “Low spots existed in the plaza for a long time after that,” says Bob Parmelee, author of “Pioneer Sonoma.”
6. The Bear Flag Revolt’s original flag was made by four men. One of them, William Todd, was nephew of future first lady Mary Todd Lincoln.
7. The Toscano Hotel, built in 1851, is the town’s oldest commercial wood-frame structure. It served as warehouse, general store and lending library, and today is a museum.
8. The Plaza had a railroad depot in the late 1800s that was moved to present-day Depot Park in 1890. Today it houses the Sonoma Valley Historical Society Museum.
9. The Sonoma Valley Woman’s Club campaigned to turn the Plaza into a community park in 1901. A $25 donation from Phoebe Hearst kicked off the fundraising; eventually the club raised enough to plant trees and hire a gardener. They also erected the large rock monument honoring Bear Flaggers.
10. The Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau on the Plaza’s east side is housed in a former Carnegie Library, one of 142 in California funded by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The Classic Revival building stands out in a town known for adobe, Mission and Victorian architecture.
11. Sonoma’s City Hall was deliberately designed to be identical on all four sides so that no Plaza merchant would feel slighted.
12. City Hall was supposed to be finished in 1906, but construction stalled for two years due to the San Francisco earthquake. Workers rushed there to earn the far higher wages involved in rebuilding an entire city.
13. City Hall was often seen in the popular 1980s TV show, Falcon Crest, as the county courthouse.
14. In 1911, a furious fire destroyed many ancient buildings on the Plaza’s eastern side. Since water supplies were too low to help, the fire was extinguished with large quantities of wine stored in vats in the Blue Wing Inn.
15. Air Force Gen. Hap Arnold, known as the father of the modern Air Force, retired to Sonoma in 1945. For years, his aerial artifacts and memorabilia were on view in City Hall’s basement. Now they are on display at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
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Do you know why it’s called “Blue Wing”? We own the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake, originally built in 1890′s but demolished during Prohibition. We rebuilt and used the origianl name but no one knows authoritatiavely why the name “Blue Wing”.
I don’t know the background of that name, but I’m curious – I’ll try to find out. The folks at Sonoma Historical Society might have the answer. I’ll let you know what I find out, Lynne.