Windsor Guide
Windsor is the newest town in Sonoma County. Well it is not the newest but it is the fastest growing. There have been so many changes that if you have not seen it in the past five years you will be shocked. The old town section has undergone a major revamping with lots of small shops and restaurants. Windsor has gone from a town known as poor mans flats, population 5,000 to a bustling bedroom community of 20,000 in a short time. There is an abundance of newer good homes at attractive prices. The schools are good and there is community pride.
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Bob Santucci Recollects About Windsor My knowledge only goes back to the 1950’s. For information prior to that click here. My mother was a school teacher at Windsor Elementary School. I think that it was the only school in town back then. The kids that were in Junior High and High School had to go up to Healdsburg for school. Windsor was not very big and it was referred to as Poor Man Flats. The downtown core was on the west side of 101 freeway and it consisted of a restaurant, a diner, Pohley’s Market, The Odd Fellows Hall and a few other small businesses as well as of course the feed store. It was primarily agriculture and some manufacturing in the area. Standard Structures, the maker of large glue laminated beams moved there in the early 1960’s. All of that land around the Sonoma County Airport was open with a few ranches on it.
I always thought the most interesting tid bit of info was that the area far west of town at Old Camp Lane was a prisoner of war camp during the war, hence the name Old Camp. There were hundreds of German prisoners housed there. Warren and Camille Richardson used to say, “It is so odd, they look just like us.” The prisoners were housed there for I do not know how long.
The area known as the Starr Road area on the west side of the freeway was the first area of Windsor to see significant growth in housing. During the 60’s and 70’s hundreds of homes were built in that area. It was during this time that the Junior High School was built. It is now called CaliCalMec academy. The east side of town remained rural for the rest of the 60’s and 70’s with limited growth. Coddingtown at the very north end of Santa Rosa was only a few miles away so that is where you went to shop. Most of the employment during this time was in Santa Rosa so it was easy to work in your shopping after work.
In the 70’s and 80’s there were several small subdivisions that popped up along The Redwood Highway. The area we know as Larkfield popped up at that time. Growth was on its way from Santa Rosa and what you see today is the result.
From the 90’s to today there has been a huge change in “Poor Man’s Flats”. The Lakewood Village area on the east side of the freeway was developed and the housing burst came. Hundreds of homes were built and the fear of urban sprawl was all a buzz. There was a huge push at that time to limit growth or have smart growth. A man named Orrin Thiesson was hired as a consultant to help with a 14 acre section of town that we call The Windsor Town Green. It was decided to go back in time and develop live over work style housing. “Our high density, mixed-use concept conserves one of Northern California’s most valuable resources — land. By utilizing 14 acres to create homes and businesses normally built on 50 acres, we help keep the beautiful landscape of Sonoma County free of unnecessary development and urban sprawl. This concept leaves the remaining open space resources of Sonoma County for future generations.” Says Thiesson. It was a twelve year project that has been completed for a few years now. It has seen a few growing pains during that time with the recession and all but it is still a nice area.
Windsor is a pretty nice community now. I am glad to see it grow up so nicely. There are great schools there and the homes are pretty nice.