Before 1823— and for thousands of years— our valley was home to many people, including those we call the Wappo, the Pomo and the Miwok. Details about them, and about the people and events in this chronology, can be found in the stories on other pages of this website.
- 1823 Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma was established two years after Mexico won its independence from Spain. Father Juan Amoros of Mission San Rafael wrote about a group of Wappo he called the Guiluc tribe or the Guilucos Indians, located in Sonoma Valley near present day Kenwood.
- 1833 Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo arrived in Sonoma to establish a military outpost.
- 1834 Vallejo received the Petaluma Land Grant.
- 1837 Rancho Los Guilucos was granted by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to John Wilson and his wife Ramona Carrillo, sister-in-law of
General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. - 1839 Vallejo built a sawmill in a redwood forest several miles north of the pueblo of Sonoma, at the confluence of Asbury and Sonoma Creeks. Vallejo also arranged the Agua Caliente Land Grant for his officer Lázaro Peña.
- 1846 American pioneer settlers began arriving after the Bear Flag Revolt June 14th, in the pueblo of Sonoma. Vallejo conveyed the Agua Caliente Land Grant to Andreas Höppener in exchange for music lessons.
- 1847 Passenger boat service from San Francisco to the Embarcadero began.
- 1848 Gold was discovered, and the California Gold Rush began.
- 1849 Captain John Wilson sold Rancho Los Guillicos to merchants William Hood and William Pettit.
- 1850 California became a state.
- 1851 Dr. John Howard Hill and his son William McPherson Hill established the Old Hill Ranch.
- 1852 Joseph Hooker killed the last grizzly bear and her cub.
- 1853 Charles Justi operated a steamboat freight and passenger service from San Francisco to the Sonoma embarcadero.
- 1854 Hooker bought part of Rancho Agua Caliente from Ernest Rufus.
- 1856 Joshua Chauvet bought 500 acres and the sawmill from Vallejo. His father François brought two millstones from France, and after 18 months the sawmill was converted into a grist mill.
- 1857 Dunbar School (second oldest school in California) was established on Dunbar Road.
- 1858 George Watriss bought his ranch from Joseph Hooker.
- 1859 Charles Stuart named his ranch Glen Ellen after his wife Ellen. Vallejo conveyed 500-acres to Louis Csomortányi.
- 1869 The Stuart family moved into the Glen Ellen Ranch.
- 1870 Daily stagecoach trips began between Sonoma and Santa Rosa, stopping at Charles Justi’s ranch.
- 1871 J.A. Poppe (father of Charles Poppe) brought carp from Rhinefelt, Germany.
- 1872 June 20th the “Glenelen Post Office” at “Lebanon” was officially recognized, so Stuart renamed his ranch Glen Oaks.
- 1875 Chauvet’s grist mill was converted to a winery and distillery. This is likely the year the wooden winery was built, as a shift to steam power began. The Sonoma Valley Prismoidal Railway Company was established.
- 1876 Chauvet’s wife Ellen died of pneumonia, and a Chinese man called Moon was hired to help care for their boys.
- 1880 Chauvet sold 20,000 of 120,000-gallons of wine to J.R. Groezinger of San Francisco, but before he could sell the remainder the upper floor of mill collapsed and the rest of his wine and brandy was lost in Sonoma Creek.
- 1881 François Chauvet died. With the Grist Mill closed, Chauvet built a three-story wine cellar, constructed of local stone by Chinese labor. The cellar was considered to be an architectural marvel and an indication of what could be expected of the Sonoma Valley’s young wine industry.
- 1888 The Santa Rosa & Carquinez Railway (later known as the Southern Pacific) was built through Sonoma and Glen Ellen from Carquinez to Santa Rosa.
- 1890 Mary Ellen Pleasant bought Beltane Ranch.
- 1891 Dr. C. C. O’Donnell established brickworks with Chauvet, and an extensive resort along Sonoma Creek. The first residents arrived at the California State Home for the Care and Training of Feeble Minded Children.
- 1893 Henry Chauvet married Annie Lounibos on November 12, 1893. Joshua Chauvet offered them a choice between a tour of Europe or a new home; they chose to have a mansion built for them across the new road. Henry Chauvet’s house is still there to this day.
- 1894 The Eldridge post office was established.
- 1906 Chauvet Hotel was built. An earthquake damaged the upper floor of Poppe’s store, and was replaced by wooden 2nd and 3rd floors. Chauvet began a court battle with Jack London over water rights.
- 1916 Jack London died. Glen Ellen’s population reached 400. An auditorium for showing films was built on Carquinez Avenue.
- 1918 The Volstead Act began Prohibition.
- 1923 A great fire swept through Sonoma Valley, from Trinity Road to El Verano, helping establish the Glen Ellen Volunteer Fire Department.
- 1924 Highway 12 was paved.
- 1925 Someone clogged the schoolhouse stovepipe, causing it to burn down. It’s said that local schoolboys stuffed burlap bags down the stovepipe as a prank so that the old wood stove wouldn’t draw. School resumed at “Castle Cozy” on O’Donnell Lane, and then at the Gaige House. It was finally combined with the Dunbar School.
- 1926 The Riverside Hotel washed away.
- 1933 Prohibition was repealed, and the Pagani Winery became the Glen Ellen Winery & Distillery.
- 1936 A wildfire burned in the Mayacamas Range.
- 1939 The iron bridge in downtown Glen Ellen was replaced by the current one.
- 1941 The Northwestern Pacific Railroad line from Glen Ellen to Santa Rosa was abandoned. By October 10th Glen Ellen was once again the end of the railroad line running from Sonoma.
- 1942 The Northwestern Pacific Railroad was abandoned from Sonoma to Glen Ellen on September 15th.
- 1943 Charles Pagani built the cinderblock winery to replace much of the old wooden winery.
- 1947 The Jack London Memorial Library, which had been condemned in 1944, was demolished; Jim Berkland wrote in his diary on Saturday, June 28, 1947, that he “…watched the blasting of the Memorial Library…”
- 1953 The Sonoma State Home changed its name to the Sonoma State Hospital.
- 1954 Charles Pagani died. His mother Angela continued running the winery with the help of Charles’ younger brother Louis until her death.
- 1960 Jack London State Historic Park was established.
- 1964 The Nunn’s Canyon fire burned to Boyes Springs; many homes were destroyed.
- 1969 Charles Beardsley and David Robert Fritschi purchased the Glen Ellen Winery, renaming the complex the Glen Ellen Mill and Wine Village.
- 1971 Russ and Winnie Kingman relocated from Jack London Square in Oakland to Glen Ellen, establishing “The World of Jack London” museum and bookstore in the basement of the Grist Mill. The name of the Glen Ellen and Wine Village was changed to the Jack London Mill and Wine Village, eventually shortened to Jack London Village.
- 1972 The Spoon River Restaurant opened in the Grist Mill. A fire destroyed Londonside Lodge.
- 1973 The restaurant in the Grist Mill was now known as the Waterwheel. Jeffrey Norman became sound engineer at Valley of the Moon Recording.
- 1974 The Grist Mill Inn restaurant opened. Fires destroyed St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the Rustic Inn, and the Weiss barn.
- 1975 Juanita Musson opened Juanita’s Galley No. 4 in the grist mill at Jack London Village.
- 1977 A fire destroyed the general store and one-time stage coach stop at Jack London Village.
- 1986 The Sonoma State Hospital became the Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC).
- 1990 Fire damaged the Grist Mill Restaurant at Jack London Village.
- 1996 The Cavedale Fire burned several days in the Mayacamas Range.
- 2002 A fire gutted Mucca Restaurant in the grist mill at Jack London Village.
- 2003 Golden Bear Lodge on Adobe Canyon Road burned.
- 2017 The Nunn’s Canyon Fire devastated much of the Valley of the Moon.