Willits (formerly Little Lake and Willitsville) is a city in Mendocino County, California, United States. at an elevation of . The arch is the repurposed second version of the Reno Arch. Reno donated the arch to Willits in 1995.
History
Hiram Willits arrived from Indiana in 1857 to settle in the Little Lake Valley. Kirk Brier founded the settlement on Willits' land.
In 1879, three men were charged with petty larceny, having been accused of stealing a saddle and harness. The three, it was later reported, had for years been involved in stealing, robbing smokehouses, drinking, and reckless discharging of their firearms. They were taken to Brown's Little Lake Hotel to await the arrival of the circuit court judge. Following a meeting at Willits' Masonic Temple, 30 masked temple members seized the prisoners, and they were hanged from a nearby bridge. A newspaper reported there was no proof the murdered men were guilty of the charges.
Willits became a boomtown due to the tanbark industry. The 1970s "back to the land" homesteading movement paved the way for Willits' reputation as the solar capital of the world in the 1980s.
Hexavalent chromium pollution and cleanup
Beginning in 1996, the city and many residents became embroiled in lawsuits against the Whitman Corporation (later acquired by PepsiCo, Inc.), alleging that hexavalent chromium pollution left by a chrome plating plant, which operated in Willits from 1964 to 1995, was responsible for several local health problems. Activist Erin Brockovich, known for the eponymous movie about her work in a similar case, participated in a lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs. By 2003, plans were put into place to inject a solution into strategic wells at the site to neutralize the chromium and remediate the pollution on site. These plans successfully reduced the pollution, and further injections and a monitoring plan were implemented in 2005 and 2008. In 2011, various lawsuits were combined into a single suit involving paying for the site cleanup and payouts to affected individuals; most lawsuits were resolved in 2012.
Geography
Located at the center of Mendocino County in the Little Lake Valley, Willits is north of Ukiah and the same distance south of Laytonville on U.S. Route 101 (otherwise known as the Redwood Highway). It is on the west side of the Little Lake Valley, a area surrounded by the California Coast Ranges.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city had a total area of , 99.96% of it land.
Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification Willits has a dry-summer subtropical or mediterranean climate.
The mountains to the west along with a significant influence of mild Pacific air cause Willits to have a cool winter and hot day/cool night summer climate. Average January temperatures range from . Average July temperatures range from . There are an average of 26.9 days with highs of or higher, and an average of 95.1 days with lows of or lower. The record maximum temperature was on July 24, 1902, and the record minimum temperature was on December 9, 1972.
|source 2 = National Weather Service
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="font-size: 90%;"
|+ Race and Ethnicity
! Racial and ethnic composition
! 2000
! 2010
! 2020
|-
! White (non-Hispanic)
| 78.14%
| 71.36%
| 62.35%
|-
! Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
| 14.69%
| 20.62%
| 24.42%
|-
! Two or more races (non-Hispanic)
| 2.72%
| 2.86%
| 6.4%
|-
! Native American (non-Hispanic)
| 2.68%
| 3.01%
| 3.49%
|-
! Asian (non-Hispanic)
| 1.12%
| 1.29%
| 1.8%
|-
! Black or African American (non-Hispanic)
| 0.47%
| 0.65%
| 0.8%
|-
! Other (non-Hispanic)
| 0.14%
| 0.1%
| 0.62%
|-
! Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic)
| 0.04%
| 0.1%
| 0.12%
|}
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Willits had a population of 4,988. The population density was . The racial makeup of Willits was 66.5% White, 0.9% African American, 4.9% Native American, 1.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 12.1% from other races, and 13.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 24.4% of the population.
The census reported that 97.6% of the population lived in households, 1.2% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1.2% were institutionalized. 99.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.2% lived in rural areas. There were 1,205 families (59.7% of all households).
The age distribution was 23.0% under the age of 18, 7.3% aged 18 to 24, 25.3% aged 25 to 44, 24.7% aged 45 to 64, and 19.7% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 40.2years. For every 100 females, there were 89.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.
2010 census
thumb|Willits City Hall and Community Center
The 2010 United States census reported that Willits had a population of 4,888. The population density was . The racial makeup of Willits was 3,862 (79.0%) White, 34 (0.7%) African American, 216 (4.4%) Native American, 68 (1.4%) Asian, 5 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 479 (9.8%) from other races, and 224 (4.6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1,008 persons (20.6%).
There were 1,914 households, out of which 667 (34.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 693 (36.2%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 320 (16.7%) had a female householder with no husband present, 143 (7.5%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 163 (8.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 11 (0.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 609 households (31.8%) were made up of individuals, and 281 (14.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50. There were 1,156 families (60.4% of all households); the average family size was 3.13.
Arts and culture
thumb|upright|Noyo Theatre in Willits
Willits High School is located on the north end of Willits. The North County Center of Mendocino College is also in Willits.
Every July, Willits hosts the Frontier Days & Rodeo, the oldest continuous rodeo and Independence Day celebration in California. It is also home to the Roots of Motive Power Locomotive Museum, the Mendocino County Museum, and the Willits Center for the Arts.
Government
Willits uses a council–manager form of government with a city council consisting of five council members. As of December 2022, the current mayor of Willits is Saprina Rodriguez.
In the state legislature, Willits is in , and .
Federally, Willits is in .
Media
Willits is served by local and regional newspapers as well as a low-power community radio station. The community radio station is KLLG, operated out of the Little Lake Grange. Local papers include The Mendocino Voice, Willits News, and Willits Weekly.
Infrastructure
thumb|Willits Fire Station 54 built in 2022
Transportation
Willits is the eastern terminus of the California Western Railroad (otherwise known as the "Skunk Train"), running through the Coast Redwood forests to coastal Fort Bragg. The old redwood Willits Depot was built in 1915 by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific. It is registered as a National Historic Place.
The Amtrak Thruway 7 bus provides daily connections to/from Willits (with a curbside stop at 298 East Commercial Street), Martinez to the south, and Arcata to the north. Additional Amtrak connections are available from Martinez station.
Willits Municipal Airport (also known as Ells Field) is a public general aviation airport with one runway, located northwest of the city.
U.S. Route 101 is the major highway through the Little Lake Valley, passing just east of the Willits city limits, connecting Eureka to the north and San Francisco to the south. State Route 20 forks off of US 101 at a point just south of Willits, enters the city on South Main Street, and then heads west, running parallel to and several miles south of the Skunk Train's route, to Fort Bragg. In an effort to reduce traffic congestion in the city, especially on all of Main Street, the Willits Bypass project opened to traffic on November 3, 2016, despite the controversy related to its route through protected wetlands.
Notable people
Some notable names from Willits include Judi Bari, labor leader and environmental activist, who fought to save the redwoods. Over 1,000 people attended her Willits funeral in 1997. Tré Cool, drummer for Green Day, lived in Willits during his teen years in the 1980s. Mona Gnader, the bass player for Sammy Hagar, also resided in Willits. Stagecoach bandit Charles Bolles (a.k.a. Black Bart) stole multiple Wells Fargo boxes and mail from stagecoaches traveling through Willits.
Phil Jordon, the first National Basketball Association player ever to have played prep basketball in the Redwood Empire area (coastal Northern California & coastal Southern Oregon), did so while at Willits High School.
Edith Ceccarelli, once the oldest person in the United States, was born in Willits.
See also
- California wine
References
External links
- Willits Chamber of Commerce