A Look Back in Time at a Jewel of Rohnert Park: Sonoma State

Sonoma State University is a gem in our back yard. But of course, it wasn't always that way. Years of political strife and debates about development of the 269-acre site over the last 40 years have shaped the campus — one that still grows today.

Pay a visit to College View Drive and you will not see a college or even a view of a college. So, why would there be a street with that name without a college in sight? And why is College View in the "B" section of town?

If you had been around in the early 1960s you would find a college on that street, specifically at 265 College View Dr.

Back then, the big question was would Rohnert Park or Cotati become the home for the newest California State College?

A State College was put on the drawing board in 1957 when the California State Legislature voted to appropriate a site in one of the four North Bay counties.

Paul Golis, co-founder and early developer of Rohnert Park "wanted the college built on land just west of the 101 freeway but the state said it was too swampy there," said Betty Fredericks, wife of Maurice Fredricks — one of the city's original developers.

Sonoma County still won the lobbying effort, and a chunk of property off East Cotati Avenue and Petaluma Hill Road was purchased by the State.

Before any construction on the property would start, temporary quarters for staff and students would be needed for the next several years. The first Sonoma State classes were held in the summer of 1961 in the first temporary site (San Francisco State's Off-Campus Center) in Santa Rosa, with a mere 215 students.

The day was May 25, in 1961, that Alicia Homes signed a contract with the State to build the first three buildings for the temporary home of Sonoma State College, with the administration building to be completed by July 1 and the other two by Sept. 1.

The parcel of land was less than 5 acres and there were no streets at the time behind today's 49er Pet Store on Southwest Avenue.

After just 22 days of construction, the first building was completed and ready for the administrative staff for the college.

On July 5, the first president of Sonoma State, Ambrose R. Nichols, Jr., and the staff were able to move in. Until June 30, they had been operating out of a site in Santa Rosa. The next two buildings, which would be classrooms, a lab and library, were completed by Sept. 5, with the fall semester approaching Sept. 18.

Later in 1961, plans were in the works for the permanent home of Sonoma State. Nichols and Wesley Burford, the director of campus development, said back then that site work would start in 1962.

In 1963 the athletic and physical education building would be completed, and by 1965 the campus would be ready for the move from College View. The first major building, Stevenson Hall, would be 95,000 square feet for student facilities and would be up to six stories tall.

Ben Oretsky, at age six, moved to Cotati with his family in 1928. Years later, he was on the committee to get a college here.

"I went to Sacramento many many times to get this college in Sonoma County. And to top that off we have a very nice campus," Oretsky said. "I don't want to brag, but I built the first building at Sonoma State College, which is Stevenson Hall."

It would be 1966 when the college would move less than two miles to the east to its permanent site of 215 acres at 1801 East Cotati Ave.

Sonoma State University, founded as a teacher education center for the North Bay, is now a liberal arts and sciences university, with a colorful and controversial past.

In August of 1962, Rohnert Park voted for incorporation. Cotati, fearing parts of their city would eventually be annexed by this new city, filed articles for incorporation and wanted Sonoma State in their boundary.

With a limited time to do so, according to former Sonoma County Supervisor Bill Kortum, they "went through a big, thick book from U. C. Berkeley on how to incorporate… and it said a fifty foot wide right of way is legitimate."

They surrounded the college property off East Cotati Avenue, then found out the book they had used was outdated and the state legislature had increased the width requirement to 100 feet before 1962.

"That's how we lost it," Kortum said.

The college has had several nicknames, such as Granola University and Frisbee State, because a the campus offered a class in the art and skill of throwing a plastic disc called the Frisbee.

Years later, Sonoma State would become one of the most requested campuses of the State Universities. US New and World Report has named Sonoma State one of the best regional colleges more than once, and there have been numerous other awards for this 49 year-old institution.

Shelley Martin, an employee for the past ten years at Sonoma State University, said of Sonoma State, "It's a fantastic and beautifully landscaped campus, one of the perks for working here."