Our Mission
Our Mission
The purpose of the Historical Society of Santa Rosa is to engage the community in preserving and appreciating the city’s past.
Photograph taken on steps of Courthouse New Year’s Day 1916. Courtesy Silverek Collection.
The Historical Society of Santa Rosa strives to breathe life into our history, to shine a light on where we started and to celebrate the builders and those who toiled in making the city what it is today.
From our beginning as a bulwark of the Spanish Empire to stem encroachment from the Russians at Fort Ross, to small farmers growing root vegetables for San Francisco and the gold fields, to the railroads connecting us to the rest of the continent, to Luther Burbank, to utopian communities, an earthquake that many thought was the end of the city and to Chinatown and Little Italy, Santa Rosa’s history is rich with stories untold or little known.
Our mission is to bring this wonderful tapestry to the public, the young and old, long time families and new comers, the wealthy and those of more modest means, in the hope that all of us can take pride in what have we built. As important, we must not forget to look critically at how we treated immigrants, minorities and the less fortunate to ensure we are all represented. This is our mission. We hope you will join us for this journey through time.
