Napa, California
| City of Napa | |
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| City, county seat | |
A view of the city at the Napa River waterfront
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 Location in Napa County and the state of California |
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| Coordinates: 38°18′17″N 122°17′56″W / 38.30472°N 122.29889°WCoordinates: 38°18′17″N 122°17′56″W / 38.30472°N 122.29889°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Napa |
| Region | Northern California |
| Incorporated | March 23, 1872 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Jill Techel |
| Area | |
| • City | 18.147 sq mi (47.000 km2) |
| • Land | 17.839 sq mi (46.203 km2) |
| • Water | 0.308 sq mi (0.797 km2) 1.69% |
| Elevation | 20 ft (6 m) |
| Population (2010 US Census) | |
| • City | 76,915 |
| • Estimate (2013) | 79,068 |
| • Density | 4,200/sq mi (1,600/km2) |
| • Metro | 136,484 |
| Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP codes | 94558, 94559, 94581 |
| Area code | 707 |
| FIPS code | 06-50258 |
| GNIS feature IDs | 277561, 2411209 |
| Website | www |
The city of Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California. It is the principal city of the Napa County Metropolitan Statistical Area, with a population of 80,011 as of the 2010 census. It is the second-largest city in California's Wine Country, after Santa Rosa. Napa was incorporated as a city in 1872.
The name "Napa" was probably derived from the name given to a southern Nappan village whose native people shared the area with elk, deer, grizzlies and cougars for many centuries, according to Napa historian Kami Santiago. At the time of the first recorded exploration into Napa Valley in 1823, the majority of the inhabitants consisted of Native American Indians. Padre José Altimira, founder of Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, led the expedition. Spanish priests converted some natives; the rest were attacked and dispersed by Spanish soldiers. American farmers began arriving in the 1830s.
Before California was granted statehood in 1849, the Napa Valley was in the Territory of California's District of Sonoma. In 1850 when counties were first organized, Napa became one of the original counties of California. At the time, its boundaries also included Lake County to the north. By this time, the indigenous people were either working as field laborers or living in small bands in the hills surrounding the valley. Tensions between the white settlers and Native Americans broke into war in 1850, with a white man's death resulting in soldiers hunting down and killing all the natives they could find, driving the remainder north toward Clear Lake. In 1851, the first courthouse was erected. By 1870, the Native American population consisted of only a few laborers and servants working for the white settlers.
The City of Napa was founded by Nathan Coombs in 1847. It was not the plan of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. He had paid to survey for a township down river at Soscol Landing where riverboats could turn around. The Napa town site was surveyed by James M. Hudspeth on property Coombs had received from Nicolas Higuera, original holder of the Rancho Entre Napa Mexican land grant. The first business establishment in the town was a saloon built by Harrison Pierce, a former miller at the Bale Grist Mill. Napa's first general store was opened a year later in 1848 by Joseph P. Thompson. The first record of a ship navigating the river was the Susana in 1842. John Sutter's schooner the Sacramento landed in 1844 to pick up a load of lime and deliver passengers. By 1850 the Dolphin became the first passenger steamship to navigate the Napa River in order to open another path of commerce.
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