Kenwood, California is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California, located on Sonoma Highway (State Route 12) between the cities of Santa Rosa and Sonoma. It lies east of Sonoma Creek in the upper part of Sonoma Valley, a region sometimes called the Valley of the Moon. Bennett Mountain lies west of the town, and Sugarloaf Ridge to the northeast. The population was 1,028 at the 2010 census. Kenwood is considered part of the Wine Country. Viticulturally, it lies in the Sonoma Valley AVA. The Kenwood area is known for vineyards and wineries, restaurants, and a European-style resort. An area landmark is the Kunde Estate Winery on Sonoma Highway, which was first planted in 1879. [1]
GenealogyOnline: About
the Town Kenwood .
. . Link
Surnames: Holton,
Liebes, McNeill
LDS
genealogy.com: Kenwood . . . Link
Roadside Thoughts: Kenwood
California . . . Link
Sonoma County Genealogical Society . . . Link
The web site "The Cockrill Family of Sonoma County" [Link] has a wonderful collection of local genealogy including the following with ties to this town: John Chistopher
Kenwood is located on the Rancho Los Guilicos Mexican land grant. In 1887, the Sonoma Land & Improvement Company, which owned the property on which the town now sits, laid out lots in anticipation of the railroad which would arrive the following year. The infant community tried on many names: Rohrerville, for one of the owners of the land company; Los Guilicos, and then South Los Guilicos, for the Mexican land grant. [1]
South Los Guilicos Depot on the Santa Rosa and Carquinez Railroad opened in 1887. The First Congregational Church of Los Guilicos was built in 1888. It was relocated from the corner of Los Guilicos and Laurel to its present site in 1893. The parsonage was used for the Kenwood School until construction [of the school] was completed in 1960. The original name of the church was changed first to Los Guilicos Congregational Church and then to its current name Kenwood Community Church. In 1981, the church was designated Historic Landmark 82 by the County of Sonoma. [1]
A number of townspeople were unhappy, complaining the "Guilicos" was hard to pronounce. Around 1895 a vote was taken to change the name again. One story says that Kenwood won because many of the settlers had come from Kenwood, Illinois. Another traces the choice to the fact that many landowners in the area were from old English families and so were familiar with London's Kenwood House. It is possible that both stories are true, and the name's permanence stemmed from its acceptability to different groups. Some notable people had ranches in the area including mining, railroad, newspaper and banking magnate, Thomas Kearns, who was also a U.S. Senator from Utah. It is reported that he entertained President Theodore Roosevelt there at the Kearns Ranch, also known as the William Hood House. [1]
The World Pillow Fight Championships originated in Kenwood in the 1970s. Two local community groups held charitable functions to help raise funds that would make improvements to the town. One of these charitable functions was the World Pillow Fighting Championships. A steel pole was made to span the Los Guilicos Spring Creek, which was then filled with mud and the Pillow Fights became an annual event. The last World Pillow Fight Championships in Kenwood were held in Plaza Park in 2006, and subsequent events have been held around the United States. A return to Sonoma County is planned for 2019. [1]
TOWN
Kenwood
sprang up halfway between Sonoma and Santa Rosa with the
arrival of the railroad. In 1887, the Sonoma Land &
Improvement Company which owned the property, laid out
lots. First called Rohrerville for one of the owners of
the land company, the name was next changed to Los
Guilicos, the title of the Mexican land grant for the
area. In 1895, the residents voted on Kenwood as the
permanent name. . . . [Archived
Website. Link]
American Towns . . . Link
"Explore the outdoors, history of Kenwood" [Article] . . . Link
"Explore the night sky at Robert Ferguson Observatory in Kenwood" [Article] . . . Link
LocalWiki: Kenwood . . . Link . . . Link (Sonoma Valley)
Kenwood Today [Niche] (has a map of location) . . . Link
Kenwood Wikipedia Page . . . Link
Permit Sonoma: Kenwood . . . Block 8 . . Community Church . . Depot . . Kenwood Winery . . Pagani Winery . .
Kenwood Historical Society . . . Link
Sonoma County Life Opens Up: Kenwood . . . Link
WikiVoyage: Kenwood . . . Link
Check Sonoma Historian (SCHS) for articles about the towns. . . . Link CHECK AT HOME!
161 Decker Street History. (A very through PDF History of Kenwood!) . . . PDF Link
Darius Anderson [Wife Sarah] . . . PDF Link
In the late 1980s, the property was purchased by yet another well-known local citizen, lawyer and political lobbyist, Darius Anderson, and his wife Sarah.
Edgar "Swede" Hanson . . . Link
In 1975, Edgar "Swede" Hanson purchased a tiny feed store being run out of a former gas station. At the time, Sonoma Valley had a need for feed. Still mostly rural, it was home to plenty of horses and cows. Hanson re-named the store "Swede's Feeds" and plunged into his new business.
Gabriel Morag . . . PDF Link
In 1810, the first known explorer, Gabriel Moraga, traveled through the Kenwood area on his way from Bodega to San Francisco. Thirteen years later, in 1823, the Sonoma Mission (Mission San Francisco de Solano) was founded and the Kenwood area came under nominal control of the church.
George P. Aston . . . Permit Sonoma
The Sonoma Land & Improvement Company, hired George P. Aston to lay out and survey a traditional grid pattern town, focused around a park and a separate plaza.
John Wilson [wife Ramona Carrillo] . . . PDF Link
By 1837, California’s missions had been secularized and their lands opened to settlement. One settler was Scottish sea captain John Wilson. Once he married Ramona Carrillo, General Vallejo’s sister-in-law, and changed his name to Juan to obtain Mexican citizenship papers, he was eligible to apply for a grant. He was awarded the 19,000 acre Rancho Guilucos, which stretched from present-day Glen Ellen west to Rincon Valley, and included the Kenwood area.
Judi Overshiner Eastman . . . Link
Around 1990, Hanson sold the business to Kenwood resident Judi Overshiner Eastman. She loved hanging out at the feed store with her son and kept it running just like Hanson had. Several years later a local couple, Mike Scheffer and Aspen Mayers, dropped by Swede's just when Eastman was considering selling the business.
Kenwood Community Church . . . Link
On July 13, 1887, the First Congregational Church of Los Guilicos met for the first time at the old Kirkwood Hotel to plan to build a church. Two ministers were present to help organize things. This group of twelve Congregationalist founders wanted their church to be a beacon of faith and piety in what was then a small railroad town swarming with land speculators. By May 28, 1888, the church building had been erected at the corner of Los Guilicos and Laurel streets. A local paper reported: “The new church is small, but a pretty little structure.” The total cost was $2,500.
Kenwood Depot . . . Link . . . History
Built in 1887, the Kenwood Depot served proudly as central Sonoma Valley’s primary railroad station from 1888 to 1934 when rail service finally gave way to the automobile. As Historic Landmark #46, the Depot celebrated its 125th year of service in 2013, which is remarkable in that the other original stations along the “Napa Junction to Santa Rosa” rail line have all been lost, but for a few old photos.
Kenwood Mercantile Company (built 1888) [Ned Wilson owner 1908]. . . Link
. . . in 1888, several stores opened near the Kenwood Depot. One, the Kenwood Mercantile Company, was bought by Ned Wilson in 1908. . .
Kenwood Press (Serving the Communities of Kenwood, Glen Ellen and Oakmont [Newspaper] . . . Link
Kunde Family . . PDF Link . . .
Sometime around the middle of the century, 161 Jessie was bought by another prominent Kenwood family, the Kundes. They are said to have painted the house blue and built the front arbor. [until 1980's]
Mark MacDonald Connection to Kenwood Railroad Depot . . . Link . . . Link
McDonald owned quarries and large orchards in Santa Rosa and was in need of a local railroad that went east, not south. With encouragement from friend Stanford, he took the initiative and pushed through the Carquinez to Santa Rosa Railroad, spawning the planned village of Los Guilicos (later Kenwood) and our unprecedented stone depot.
Mike Scheffer and Aspen Mayers, . . . Link
They dropped by Swede's just when Eastman was considering selling the business. "They told me that running a store like mine seemed like something they'd like to do," Eastman recalled. "So I said, 'Want to buy it?' It happened just like that." So in 1998 Mike & Aspen took over the business.
Ned Wilson . . . PDF Link
The Wilsons were active members of the Kenwood Congregational Church on the Plaza. Ned was one of the founders of the Kenwood Telephone Company.
Nell Wilson . . . PDF Link
The Wilsons were active members of the Kenwood Congregational Church on the Plaza. Nell was a poet who published at least one book of poetry.
Norman W. Griswold . . . Link . . . Permit Sonoma
San Francisco native, Norman W. Griswold was a man of ideas and great ambition. N.W. Griswold at the helm of Los Guilicos, he moved quickly to secure development land from the extensive Decker & Jewett Ranch.* Here, the newly incorporated Sonoma County Land & Improvement Company, in partnership with the North Pacific Land & Improvement Company (Central Pacific Railroad), surveyed, subdivided and prepared to market their wine country “boom town.”
Peter Maroni . . . Permit Sonoma
Peter Maroni was an active and prolific stonemason during this period, working at the Annadel Quarry, Titania Quarry and his own Maroni Quarry (later renamed the Coutts Bros Quarry). He was part of a large 1880s influx of Italian immigrants, many of whom were stone masons coming to the area to work the basalt veins in the hills of Sonoma County.
Robert Ferguson [Robert Ferguson Observatory] . . . Link . . . Observatory
Robert Ferguson, the man who inspired the creation of the observatory, was known as an avid amateur astronomer who often shared his enthusiasm for stars and planets with everyone around him. His enthusiasm sparked an idea for a community observatory which was spearheaded by members of the Valley of the Moon Observatory Association in 1995.
Sonoma Land and Improvement Company . . . PDF Link
In 1887, Decker and Jewett sold the future townsite of Kenwood to the Sonoma Land and Improvement Company. Anticipating the arrival of the railroad, the town was laid out, lots were surveyed, and a brisk business in real estate commenced.
Swede’s Feeds . . . Link
For day-trippers, though, a visit to Swede’s Feeds is a must. Located in a former gas station that once housed feed for area farm animals — and whose onetime owner was nicknamed Swede – the eye-catching destination has been evolving for the past 24 years under the ownership of Aspen Mayers and Michael Scheffer.
Thomas Jefferson Ludwig . . . Link
Principally he was a contractor. Many of Sonoma County’s historic landmarks are credited to T. J. Ludwig as builder; some also list him as architect. Santa Rosa’s newest addition to the Railroad Square Historical District, the renovated DeTurk Round Barn, was built by 34-year-old Ludwig in 1875.
Thomas Kearns [the Kearns Ranch / William Hood House] . . . Link
William Hood . . . PDF Link . . . Permit Sonoma
Another Scotsman, William Hood, purchased the rancho in 1850. Over the next decade, as the population of Sonoma County increased twenty-fold, Hood lost much ofhis holdings to squatters. In 1868, Hood defaulted on a loan and over 7000 acres of the ranch, including what is now 161 Jessie, were sold to partners Decker and Jewett, who continued to use the property as a ranch.
William Pettit . . . Permit Sonoma
Hood and Pettit had both come to what is now Sonoma County during the gold rush as merchants selling provisions to the gold rush miners. The partners received title to the grant in 1866. Recognizing the great financial potential of the land, Pettit quickly bought out Hood's share of the Rancho.
Maps
Map of Kenwood , with boundaries [BingMaps] . . . Link
Map of Kenwood [MapQuest] . . . Link
Malvern Hall, Kenwood, California abt 1890 . . . Link
[1] Wikipedia contributors. "Kenwood, California." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Aug. 2022. Web. Viewed on 27 Oct. 2022.. . . . Link
[2] "Historical and Descriptive Sketch Book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino: Comprising Sketches of Their Topography, Productions, History, Scenery, and Peculiar Attractions", C.A. Menefee, 1873 . . . Link
[3] "Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California" Robert Allan Thompson. L.H. Everts, 1877 - Sonoma County (Calif.) - 104 pages. [ ??? pp 100-101] . . . Link
[4] "History of Sonoma County: Including Its Geology, Topography, Mountains, Valleys and Streams ...."' United States, Higginson Book Company, 1880. (page ???.) . . . Link . . . Text at CAGenWeb
[5]
"An Illustrated
History of Sonoma County, California: Containing a
History of the County of Sonoma from the Earliest
Period of Its Occupancy to the Present Time",
Lewis Publishing, 1889
. . . Link
Sand, Dallyce. 1988.Kenwood: Yesterday and Today. Compiled and published by Dallyce R. Sand. Kenwood, CA. .. . Google Link