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Marin, California

The Coast Miwok Indians were hunters and gatherers whose ancestors had occupied the area for thousands of years. About 600 village sites have been identified in the area.

In 1595 Sebastian Cermeno lost his ship, the San Agustin, while exploring the Marin Coast. The Spanish explorer Viscaino landed about twenty years after Drake in what is now called Drake's Bay. However the first Spanish settlement in Marin was not established until 1817 when Mission San Rafael Archangel was founded partly is response to the Russian built Fort Ross in what is now Sonoma County. Chief Marin, who was named by the Spaniards, led a band of resisters against the Spaniards, and was formidable enough that the county was name in his honor.

In 1821 control of California passed from Spain to Mexico, and in the early 1830s secularization of mission properties was decreed.

During the next decade, Marin was divided into great ranchos. A grantee was required to become a Mexican citizen and baptized Catholic; thereafter his first name was Spanish and he was known as a "don." Juan Reed, Sausalito's first known English-speaking resident, was granted the Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio. Adjacent land was granted to Captain Guillermo Antonio Richardson, an Englishman and the first port captain of San Francisco. Timoteo Murphy was given an immense grant that included San Rafael, where he managed the mission properties.

The United States' occupation of California began in 1846, ending the "Days of the Dons." California became a state in 1850 and Marin one of its original counties. As settlement accelerated, the huge cattle-raising ranchos gradually gave way to smaller ranches, many of which still flourish today.

Trains, steamships and ferries were introduced to the county in the 1880's and 90s. One rail line even ascended Mt. Tamalpais. Ferry slips were built at Sausalito and Tiburon. Transportation meant farmers could supply San Francisco with food. It also meant more people could enjoy Marin County.

In 1937 when the bridge spanned the Golden Gate, the pressure for development increased. During World War II people came from all across the country to work in the Sausalito shipyards and at Hamilton Air Force Base in Novato.

From 1850 to 1950 the population of Marin increased by 85,000 people. Twenty years later there were an additional 123,000 residents. Population growth has slowed since then and is now about 245,000.

Marin has attracted progressive people who have supported the purchase of land for parks and community uses. William Kent donated the Muir Woods for a park in 1908 and his mother Adaline, donated land for the Tamalpais Centre, which was eventually given to the College of Marin. In 1971 conservationists pressured the federal government to purchase coastal property and protect it from development. In 1972 the Golden Gate National Recreational Area was created. It encompasses the Marin Headlands, Muir Woods and thousands of acres along the Pacific Coast.

777 Mariners Island Road, Suite 125
San Mateo, CA 94404
 650.377.0222

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