Sebastopol, California, United States

🇺🇸 Sebastopol is a city in Sonoma County, in California.

Sebastopol was once primarily a plum- and apple-growing region. Today, wine grapes are the predominant agriculture crop, and nearly all lands once used for orchards are now vineyards. The creation of The Barlow, a $23.5 million strip mall on a floodplain at the edge of town, converting old agriculture warehouses into a trendy marketplace for fine dining, tasting rooms, and art, has made Sebastopol a popular Wine Country destination.

Famous horticulturist Luther Burbank had gardens in this region. The city hosts an annual Apple Blossom Festival in April and is home to the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival.

History The area's first known inhabitants were the native Coast Miwok and Pomo peoples. The town currently sits atop multiple village sites. The town of Sebastopol formed in the 1850s with a U.S. Post Office and as a small trade centre for the farmers of the surrounding agricultural region. As California's population swelled after the westward migration and the California Gold Rush of 1848–1855, more and more settlers drifted into the fertile California valleys north of San Francisco to try their hand at farming.

There is some debate as to how the name "Sebastopol" came into use in Sonoma County. At one time, four other California towns were also named Sebastopol: • one in Napa County, renamed Yountville • one in Tulare County • one in Sacramento County • one in Nevada County

The town in Sonoma County originally had the name Pinegrove; the name change (according to rumor) had something to do with a bar fight in the late 1850s, which was compared by a bystander to the long British siege of the seaport of Sevastopol (1854–1855) during the Crimean War of 1853–1856. The original name survives in the name of the Pine Grove General Store downtown.

Sebastopol became known as the "Gravenstein Apple Capital of the World". The apple industry brought a steady rural prosperity to the town. In 1890 the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad connected Sebastopol to the national rail network. The town was incorporated in 1902, with schools, churches, hotels, canneries, mills, wineries, and an opera house to its credit. The 1906 earthquake reduced most of these early buildings to rubble (Sebastopol is only seven miles from the city of Santa Rosa, the worst-hit town in the 1906 earthquake), but as elsewhere in the county, the town was rebuilt.

In the second half of the 20th century, the apple industry struggled to compete with other apple-producing regions and gradually declined in economic significance. With greater personal mobility and the rise of larger shopping centres in other Sonoma County communities, many residents now often commute to work and shop in the neighboring towns of Rohnert Park or Santa Rosa, while Sebastopol maintains its small-town charm.

It is often incorrectly claimed that Sebastopol was the last town in Northern California to have working railroad trains on Main Street. The tracks were removed in the late 1980s. Passenger service had ceased in the 1930s, and regular freight service ended in the late 1970s. This was documented by Analy High School students in a 1979 video Our Train Down Main: a History of the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad. The canneries and apple-processing plant are gone from downtown, and vineyards and housing developments have replaced many apple orchards, reducing the demand for freight service.

It is often also incorrectly stated that the tracks were removed in the 1990s when the downtown area was redesigned with two one-way streets to enhance traffic along Gravenstein Highway (Route 116). Main Street and Petaluma Avenue were actually designated one-way streets in 1985 in an attempt to deal with the town's perennial traffic problem. As of 2016 the old train station houses the Western County Museum.

Geography Sebastopol's elevation is 65 to 250 feet (20 to 76 meters) above sea level. Its downtown is at the intersection of State Route 12 and State Route 116 (Gravenstein Highway), approximately 9 mi (14 km) west of U.S. Route 101.

Sebastopol is situated on the edge of the Laguna de Santa Rosa, which is fed by Santa Rosa Creek and other tributaries, including three minor tributaries within the city limits – Zimpher Creek, Calder Creek and Witter Creek. The Laguna is a wetland area that is home to many species of wildlife and vegetation and divides the town from neighboring Santa Rosa. Nearly every winter the Laguna floods, cutting off State Route 12, and often flooding the low-lying businesses and homes on the eastern side of Sebastopol. The Pitkin Marsh lily and White sedge are two rare species of plants that are found in the vicinity of Sebastopol.

The city has a total area of 1.9 sq mi (4.9 km²), all land.

Arts and culture Places of interest in Sebastopol include: • Sebastopol Center for the Arts • Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm • Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products world headquarters • The historic Hogan Building: This was the Power House for the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad, an electric railway. The first cars were run on the line in 1904, and the later named Hogan Building, built of stone from a local quarry, is one of the few in the area that made it through the 1906 earthquake. • West County Museum, operated by the Western Sonoma County Historical Society in the former Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad passenger depot • George A. Strout House • Ives Park, summer home of the Sonoma County Repertory Theater • Ragle Ranch Regional Park • Joe Rodota Trail • West County Trail • Laguna de Santa Rosa • Sebastopol Community Cultural Center • The Barlow, an outdoor mall east of town, built on the floodplain of the Laguna de Santa Rosa.

Government: Local The city council consists of five members, each serving four-year terms. The city's laws are enforced by the Sebastopol Police Department. City council races are not partisan, so each member does not officially represent any party.

Sebastopol tends to support environmental policies: Earlier, in 1986, the residents approved an initiative declaring Sebastopol a "Nuclear Free Zone", The town does not use pesticides in city landscaping, and several years back, when the police needed a new vehicle, the city council voted to purchase a hybrid instead of a standard police car.

Current issues facing the city include a high cost of living and ongoing difficulties with traffic (the town has two highways going through downtown).

State and federal In the California State Legislature, Sebastopol is in the 10th Assembly District and California's 2nd State Senate district.

Federally, Sebastopol is in California's 2nd congressional district.

Law enforcement The Sebastopol Police Department serves the city. It currently employs 31 sworn and non sworn personnel, and 25 volunteers. The department was founded in the early 1900s. The divisions of the department are administration, watch commanders, patrol officers, dispatchers, reserve officers, community service volunteers and explorers. The population can grow up to 50,000 during special events, such as Apple Blossom Parade.

Education Sebastopol Union operates two elementary schools: Parkside (K-4) and Brook Haven (5-8).

Sebastopol Charter, a K-8 public charter school, had the highest percentage (58%) of kindergarten students with medical exemptions to vaccines in California as of the summer of 2018.