Novato, California

About Novato, California

Novato is a city located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, in northern Marin County. As of a 2000 census, the city population was 47,630. Novato is 30 miles north of San Francisco on US 101.

What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok villages: Chokeche, near downtown Novato, Puyuku, near Ignacio, and Olompali, at the present Olompali State Historic Park.

Novato was first established in 1839 when the Mexican government granted Rancho de Novato, consisting of some 8,876 acres (36 km²), to Fernando Feliz, who acted as an empresario in settling the land. Subsequently four additional land grants were made in the area; Rancho San Jose to Ignacio Pacheco in 1840, Corte Madera de Novato to John Martin, a Scotsman, in 1840, Rancho Olompali awarded in 1843 to Camillo Ynitia, son of a Coast Miwok chief, and Rancho Nicasio, by far the largest at 56,621 acres (229 km²), awarded to Don Pablo de la Guerra and John Cooper in 1844. Novato, along with the rest of California, became part of the United States on February 2, 1848. Early pioneers included Joseph Sweetser and Francis De Long who bought 15,000 acres (61 km²) in the mid-1850s and planted orchards and vineyards.