A New City
“…the city has risen Phoenix-like from her ashes and is practically rebuilt.”
—Herbert Slater, 1908
A new Santa Rosa rose from the rubble. By mid summer, 1906, businesses had been permanently relocated or were re-building. Forward-looking civic leaders, like Frank Doyle of Exchange Bank, called for the widening of roads and new street lines to accommodate the dawning age of the automobile. The quake hastened the construction of Santa Rosa’s new post office and in spring of 1908 a cornerstone was placed for a new courthouse.
In May of 1906 the Sonoma County Herald printed a suggestion that “the ruins of the Courthouse be cleared away and Mendocino Street be continued through the courthouse square, thus making a continuous thoroughfare….” The suggestion, not taken at the time, became reality in the 1960s when the 1910 courthouse was torn down—a decision that remains the subject of debate. In 1969, another destructive quake led to changes, some of which were later criticized. Santa Rosa’s unusual seismic history remains relevant and its seismic future is something that Santa Rosa’s residents must keep in mind.
