Learn about Santa Rosa history at 'A Day at the Adobe'

Can you remember the last time you stopped to inspect or walk amid the ruins of the Carrillo Adobe, birthplace of Santa Rosa?

It has been decades since the historic but overgrown and largely forgotten landmark near the Montgomery Village shopping center attracted a public gathering. That long dry run will end Saturday with a virtual flood of demonstrations and presentations for children and adults.

Members of the Historical Society of Santa Rosa will present 'A Day at the Adobe' as an opportunity for guests to be introduced to or reacquainted with the fascinating history — and uncertain future — of the city's oldest building.

Long before the arrival of Spaniards, Mexicans and Americans, the creekside area that now encompasses the adobe and the neighboring St. Eugene's Cathedral was home to native Pomos. Legend holds that the name 'Santa Rosa' was bestowed by a priest after he baptized a young native woman in the creek on the day of the Feast of Santa Rosa de Lima.

The adobe-walled ranch house was built between 1837 and '38 by the widowed Maria Ygnacia Lopez de Carrillo, her sons and native laborers. The mother-in-law of Gen. Mariano Vallejo, Carrillo had received a vast parcel — called Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa — in a Mexican land grant.

After its use as the Carrillo home, the adobe served variously as a trading post, tavern and drying shed. For decades there have been calls and proposals to preserve or even restore it and to make it the centerpiece of a historic park, but none have come to fruition.

Years ago, a community effort constructed a steel roof over the ruins to provide them some protection from elements. The San Jose-based construction company that owns the nearly 16 acres that include the adobe and the former orchard between it and St. Eugene's Cathedral have them surrounded by a chain-link fence.

As significant as the ruins are as Santa Rosa's first non-native home, archaeologists have found that Maria Carrillo built the structure over the even older stone foundations she found in the soil. It is long believed that the Franciscan priests who created California's 21 missions commenced in 1829 the construction of a satellite 'assistencia' on the parcel on which Maria Carrillo would build her family's home less than a decade later.

In 2006, Petaluma archaeologist Bill Roop conducted exploratory excavations required before landowner Barry Swenson Builder could receive approval to construct a housing development around the adobe. Roop discovered a wing of heavy-duty foundation that led him to make a startling conclusion: He believes that the Franciscans had begun to build in Santa Rosa the 22nd and northernmost of the California missions, but had abandoned the plan and the partially completed foundation.

Today, the construction company that put a development project on ice when the recession hit is about to present a revised plan to Santa Rosa City Hall. Mike Black of Barry Swenson Builder said Thursday the firm proposes to build adjacent to the Carrillo Adobe 140 flats and 25 apartments for seniors.

Black said a 2-acre, low-maintenance park would be created around the adobe. He said money for maintaining the park would come from fees paid by owners of the housing units and, if necessary, from the city of Santa Rosa.

Black said Barry Swenson Builder expects to submit a request for a building permit later this year or early 2016.

The future of the Carrillo Adobe will no doubt be of interest to guests at Saturday's open house, and there will discussion of the possibilities. But the day's extensive program and multiple speakers will focus primarily on the historical significance and context and physical characteristics of time-eroded landmark.

'A Day at the Adobe' begins at 9 a.m. with cleanup of the site by Santa Rosa High School history students who've spent many hours clearing the brush that conceals the ruins from view.

From 10 a.m. to noon, there will be a curriculum workshop for fourth-grade teachers; from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., a demonstration will be given on ground-penetrating radar.

Among the topics that speakers will address from 12:30 to 4 p.m. are the arrival of the Carrillo family, the local Native American communities, the adjoining San Rafael and Sonoma missions, the legacy of Junipero Serra, lesser-known facts of California's adobes and the adobe and climate change.

There is no charge, though the hosting Historical Society of Santa Rosa will happily accept donations. Food will be available from Diaz Gourmet Mexican Food.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.