Take a Walking Tour of Santa Rosa's Railroad Square

The Flying Goat, in the old Western Hotel building, is a popular coffee shop featuring fresh-roasted specialty brews. This structure was built at the turn of the century by the same group of Italian stonemasons who built the depot, plus two other buildings still on the square. Look straight across Depot Park to A'Roma Roasters, which is housed in one of these buildings. The second is kitty-corner from that and is the Hotel La Rosa. Other examples of the stonemasons’ work can be found at the Kenwood Depot, the ruins of Jack London's Wolf House, and the Stonehouse Inn on Highway 12, just east of downtown.

The big, gray basalt blocks used to make these buildings came from a former quarry at Annadel Park, on the eastern side of town. In fact, the Annadel quarry was one of the prime sources for paving many of the streets of San Francisco.

Unfortunately, not many more original buildings remain on Railroad Square. Some were destroyed during the great 1906 Earthquake. Although it’s usually referred to as the “San Francisco Earthquake,” the United States Geological Survey reported in 2005 that, according to new data, the quake was most powerful in an area between Santa Rosa and what is now Sebastopol. It caused more deaths and destruction in Santa Rosa, per capita, than in any other place. In effect, no other city in the United States, throughout history, has ever suffered as much devastation from an earthquake as has Santa Rosa.