Sonoma

Formed February 18, 1850 (21^st county)

Sonoma County (488,875), Santa Rosa (178,128)

The Modern style office like concrete facility was built in 1966.  J. Clarence Felciano and Associates are the building architects.  There were two earlier courthouses dating from 1885 and 1908 all in Santa Rosa, the only county seat.  Sonoma County is also an original one dating from February 18, 1850.  It is the 21^st county.  The courthouse is on Administration Drive at Fiscal Street.  It is one block east of United States Highway 101.  Sonoma County’s name comes from the Wintun Native American name for “nose” as a geographical distinction of the area.  The county seat was supposedly named by Father Juan Amorosa who baptized a Native American on the day of the Feast of Santa Rosa de Lima.  He then named the river Santa Rosa and the city got its name from the river. 

Sonoma County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, controller, and treasurer (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Eighteen Superior Court Judges, clerk, and counsel serve Sonoma County (judicial.)  The county is situated north of San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean.  The county center is in Santa Rosa 3.4 miles West of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Mendocino, Lake, Napa, Contra Costa, and Marin counties and the Pacific Ocean.  The county is shaped like a plow facing to the southeast.  Santa Rosa actually is a little east of geographic county center.  Santa Rosa is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 36.4% of the county population.  The county is pronounced SOE-NOE-MA.   

The area of the county is 1576 square miles.  It is 30 out of 58 in the state.  It ranks 17 out of 58 in population in the state.  It has a density of 310.2 persons per square mile making it 17 out of 58 in the state.  Sonoma County has 72.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 101 enters from Mendocino County on the north and exits into Marin County on the south.  This county is in the Santa Rosa-Petaluma Metropolitan Statistical Area.