Windsor, California
| Windsor | |
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| Town | |
Entrance to Downtown Windsor
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 Windsor
Windsor
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| Coordinates: 38°32′50″N 122°48′59″W / 38.54722°N 122.81639°WCoordinates: 38°32′50″N 122°48′59″W / 38.54722°N 122.81639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Sonoma |
| Incorporated | July 1, 1992 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council–manager |
| • Town Manager | Linda Kelly |
| • Mayor | Debora Fudge |
| Elevation | 118 ft (36 m) |
| Time zone | Pacific (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1667892 |
| Website | Official website |
Windsor is a town in Sonoma County, California, United States.
Windsor's first European settlers arrived in 1851. In 1855, Hiram Lewis, a Pony Express rider, became the town's first postmaster. He named the town Windsor because it reminded him of the grounds around Windsor Castle, a medieval castle from his home country of England. In 1855, a post office was established in Windsor. The following year, a business enterprise was built in eastern Windsor, which included a goods store, a shoe shop, a grocery and meat market, a saloon, a hotel, a boarding house, and two confectionery shops. The Northwestern Pacific Railroad was completed through the town in 1872, providing a faster and cheaper link to the Bay Area.
On May 21, 1905, a fire destroyed the center of Windsor. Fanned by heavy winds, the fire destroyed several businesses, including a hotel and a barber shop. The damage was at an estimated $30,000 worth of property.
In 1915, the Old Redwood Highway through Windsor was paved. Up until then, all roads in the area had been dirt.
During World War II, a United States Army Air Forces training air base (currently the Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport) was built in southern Windsor, and it was common to hear fighter aircraft and bombers flying over the town.
In 1943, a camp for German prisoners of war was built west of downtown Windsor, on the site of a former migrant labor camp. The camp was a branch camp of the much larger Camp Beale POW camp. Those assigned to the camp worked (for $0.80 per day) at farms in the county, picking apples, prunes, hops, and other crops, packing apples, and doing similar work.
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