Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of San Francisco. Take a look below for 15 interesting and amazing facts about Rohnert Park, California, United States.
1. The population at the 2020 United States Census was 44,390.
2. It is an early planned city and is the sister city of Hashimoto in Japan.
3. Sonoma State University, part of the California State University system, is located nearby.
4. Originally home of the Coast Miwok native people, the Mexican government granted Rancho Cotate to Captain Juan Castaneda in July 1844 for his military services in the region. The grant encompassed present-day Penngrove, Cotati and Rohnert Park.
5. In 1849, Dr. Thomas S. Page, of Cotati, bought Rancho Cotate. Over time, the property was broken up and sold off piecemeal to incoming settlers.
6. The town of Rohnert Park was named after the Rohnert family, which owned the Rohnert Seed Farm. In 1929, a successful businessman, Waldo Emerson Rohnert (1869–1933), a native of Detroit, Michigan, purchased a large ranch in the area and minimized flooding in the fields with a crude drainage system.
7. He died shortly thereafter. His son, Fred Rohnert, a graduate of Stanford Law School, took over the ranch and developed a seed growing business, the Rohnert Seed Farm, which became a major horticultural success for the county.
8. In 1956, only four adults resided within the district boundaries. In 1956 and 1957, with the U.S. Route 101 Freeway recently completed at the Cotati bypass, Rohnert Park began to be laid out and built as a planned city.
9. In a summer election in 1962, Rohnert Park was incorporated, comprising 1,325 acres (536 ha), housing an estimated 2,775 persons. It was the first town to incorporate in Sonoma County since 1905. The neighboring town of Cotati, California, voted to incorporate the following year.
10. Sonoma Mountain Village Rohnert Park is a 200-acre (0.81 km2), solar-powered, zero-waste community currently under development.
11. The Graton Resort & Casino opened on November 5, 2013.
12. Rohnert Park is governed by a City Council of five members, who serve staggered four-year terms. Municipal elections are held in November of even-numbered years. In 2019, the Rohnert Park City Council voted to transition from at-large elections to a district based system in which voters elect one councilmember to represent each district. Any registered voter who resides within Rohnert Park is eligible to run for City Council in the district in which they live.
13. Rohnert Park is split between Sonoma County’s 2nd and 3rd supervisorial districts
14. In the California State Legislature, Rohnert Park is in the 3rd Senate District, represented by Democrat Bill Dodd, and in the 4th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Cecilia Aguiar-Curry.
15. In the United States House of Representatives, Rohnert Park is part of California’s 5th congressional district, represented by Democrat Mike Thompson.
