1579

Sir Francis Drake sailed on the ‘Golden Hind’ following the coast south from what is now Oregon ‘42 latitude. He landed somewhere in California on June 17th. There has been speculation for over 400 years about the exact location of Drake's landing site. The principal candidates include Bodega Bay, Drake's Bay, Bolinas Bay. He names the coast ‘New Abion’ and lays English claim to west coast of America.

1602

Sebastian Vizcaino-Aguilar explores the west coast as far north as Cape Mendocino. He names the Rio de Sebastian (now called the Russian River).

1747

California was believed to be an island long after "discovery". Father Kino walked there from the "mainland" in 1698 disproving the concept. In spite of this, only after Father Consag sailed completely around the Gulf of California in 1747, did King Ferdinand of Spain issue a Royal decree stating "California is not an Island!"   Map (detail) by P. Mortier, Amsterdam 1693. -- private collection.

1769

Gaspar de Portola Expedition for Spain encounters natives living in San Francisco Bay area. First sighting of San Francisco Bay by Europeans.

1769-1823

The Spanish build twenty-one missions, two pueblos, and four presidios, from Mission San Diego to Mission Sonoma, all established along what was called El Camino Real "The King's Highway".

1775

American Revolution begins. Ensign Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Cuarra entered and named Bodega Bay and Tomales Bay.

1776

Spanish begin building Mission San Francisco de Assisi (Mission Dolores)

1776-1777

Spanish soldiers build the Presidio in San Francisco

1788

United States adopts the Constitution

1812

Fort Ross settlement established for the Russian-American Company by Ivan A. Kuskov.  He sets up port facilities in Bodega Bay and begins to establish camp in Russian Gulch area. Explores the Russian River, which he called the Slavianka River.

June 19: U.S. President Madison declares war or Great Britain. War of 1812.

1814

August 24: British burn Washington. Sept. 13-14: Siege of Fort McHenry (Battle of Baltimore) - "Star Spangled Banner" is inspired by British mortars and rockets. December 24: Treaty of Ghent signed to end war.

1822

California becomes Mexican territory at the end of their War of Independence.

1823

Franciscan mission San Francisco Solano established at what will become the town of Sonoma.

1821-1846

Mexico rules over California with a series of 12 governors. The governors reduced the Spanish missions to mere parishes and granted the acres owned by the priests to Mexican nobles. Between 1822 and 1846, more than 800 California land grants were made to individuals by the Mexican government. In what would become Sonoma County, 26 land grants were issued, the largest was General Vallejo's 66,600 acre Petaluma rancho.

1833

Garrison established at former Mission San Francisco Solano by 25 year old General Mariano Vallejo. 

1834

Mexican government seizes all Mission lands         

1835

Sonoma Pueblo built

1836

- Construction of General Vallejo’s massive Petaluma adobe began in April.

- Russian E. L. Chernykh establishes Rancho near the Russian River downstream from Healdsburg in the area now called Freestone and Graton.

1838

Severe earthquake occurs along the San Andreas fault

1840

- Cyrus Alexander arrives in what we now call Alexander Valley

- Boston: Richard Henry Dana publishes Two Years Before the Mast

- The first covered wagon train arrives in California

1841

- Chernykh in a report to the Russian Imperial Society for Rural Economy, writes: "Local grapes make good wine, but in small quantities and does not keep well."

- The Russians sell Fort Ross to John Sutter in December. Russian scientist Voznesensky and Agronomist Chernyk climb Mt. ST. Helena on their way to Fort Sutter to negotiate the sale.

1841-1844

Mexico grants 48,800 acres, including the Healdsburg area, to Henry Delano Fitch. Named Rancho Sotoyome

1842

England: Darwin composes abstract of theory of evolution

1843

- German Pina takes possession of "four square leagues of land", a Mexican Land Grant. Named Rancho Tzabaco, it occupied most of what we now call Dry Creek Valley

- John Fremont establishes California Trail branch from the Oregon Trail

- London: Charles Dickens publishes A Christmas Carol

1845

July 4. Concord, Mass.: Henry David Thoreau moves into Walden Pond home

1846

- General Vallejo's Petaluma Adobe near completion

- Jan. 13. Texas: U.S. begins war with Mexico

- June 19 Hoboken, N.J.: first official baseball game

1847

- Cyrus Alexander establishes ranch from a share of Rancho Sotoyome

- July 24. Utah: Mormons found Salt Lake City

- U.S. captures Mexico City

1848

- Sutter discovers gold in California

- California is ceded to the United States by Mexico in Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

- Stephen Foster writes song, "Oh, Susanna!"

- Europe: Marx and Engels publish Communist Manifesto

1849

- The California Gold Rush, Roderick Matheson seeks his fortune.

- Captain Fitch dies

- May 14. Concord, Mass.: Thoreau publishes "On Civil Disobedience"

1850

- Sept. 9. California admitted as 31st state

- Levi Strauss & Co. founded in San Francisco

- The Heald brothers move to Russian River area and help William March build a flour and lumber mill at the Upper Falls of Mill Creek.

1851

Harmon Heald builds a small squatter's cabin at the side of a dirt road, now known as the 300 block of Healdsburg Avenue

1852

- Matheson is Comptroller of the City of San Francisco.

- June 5. U.S.: Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin

- Healdsburg population: a few squatter families and about 100 native Americans

1853

Stephen Foster writes song "My Old Kentucky Home"

1855

Walt Whitman publishes Leaves of Grass

1856

- Matheson and his family move to Healdsburg.

- Harmon Heald, squatter, purchases 100 acres west of current downtown Healdsburg. In July and December Heald buys 65 acres from his brothers-in-law, (originally purchased from widow Josefa Fitch's land auctions earlier in the year)

1857

- Heald recorded the Town Plat map on March 5, 1857.

- Slavery protected by U.S. Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision

- Alexander Skaggs illegally settles in the western end of what is now known as Dry Creek Valley

- Healdsburg population 300

1858

- Harmon Heald dies in December

- First transatlantic cable laid

1860

Pony Express begins, St. Louis to California

1861

- Feb. 9...Richmond: Confederate States of America formed.

- April 12..Charleston, S.C.: Civil War begins.

- July 21, 1861. Matheson leads the 1st California Regiment at the First Battle of Bull Run, Manassas, Virginia

- Healdsburg population over 500

1863

- Jan. 1..U.S.: Emancipation Proclamation takes effect

- Nov. 19..Gettysburg, Pa.: Lincoln addresses commemoration

1865

- April 9....Appomattox, Va.: Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant

- England: Lewis Carroll publishes Alice in Wonderland

1869

Louisa May Alcott publishes Little Women

1870

Paris: Jules Verne publishes Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

1871

- Opening day of the new San Francisco and North Pacific Railway in Healdsburg.

- Healdsburg population 1,750

1876

- Mark Twain publishes Tom Sawyer

- Mar. 10.. Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrates telephone

- June 25...Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand)

1877

Black Bart held up a stage 2 1/2 miles south of Fort Ross on Meyers Grade Road.

1879

Electric light bulb perfected by Edison

1880

Petaluma Adobe falls into disrepair

1882

Healdsburg College founded by Seventh-Day Adventists

1884

- Healdsburg had seven churches, one bank, and two newspapers

- N.Y.: George Eastman invents first transparent photographic film

- Healdsburg population 2,500

1885

Mark Twain publishes Huckleberry Finn

1886

New Healdsburg City Hall opened. SF & NPR renamed Northwestern Pacific Railroad at turn of century.

1887

Life and adventures of Col. L. A. Norton published. Norton played a key role in the Healdsburg Squatter's Wars of the 1850's.

1906

April 18. San Francisco earthquake. Collapse of the three story Odd Fellow's Hall (currently the Brant Building at Matheson and Healdsburg Ave.) and the two story Gobbi building at 310 Center St. in Healdsburg

1914

- World War I begins. NWP completes rail line through Eel River Canyon with service to Eureka.

- Healdsburg population 3,500.

1917

Healdsburg "rated as the fifth in California in per capita wealth"

1919

United States passes the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition)

1928

NWP opens new Railroad Station in Healdsburg. Gas-electric passenger rail car service from Healdsburg to Sausalito established

1929

Stock market crash. Four passenger trains per day on NWP Railroad.

1933

Prohibition ended. Hops industry destroyed, Wine industry severely damaged, many Healdsburg area wineries close

1941

- Japan bombs Pearl Harbor; America declares war.

- Healdsburg population 4,000

1942-1945

WW II - An estimated 700 people from Healdsburg saw military service during WW II

1950

Korean War begins

1958

The last regularly scheduled passenger train stopped at Healdsburg station

1960

November, Highway 101 Healdsburg Freeway bypass dedicated

1996

- Urban Growth Boundary established for Healdsburg

- Healdsburg population 10,000

2000

- Healdsburg population 11,000

- Growth Management Ordinance enacted regulating number of new houses per year

2003

- Healdsburg population 11,500