In 1859 , a private library association established the Santa Rosa Library , founding what was the 14th public library in California . The Santa Rosa Library would be the ancestor of the Central Library of the Sonoma County Library system . Santa Rosa 's second library building was dedicated in March 1904 with a Carnegie grant , although the 1906 earthquake damaged it badly . The library was rebuilt as the Santa Rosa Free Public Library and served Santa Rosa until 1960 , when deferred maintenance forced the City of Santa Rosa to condemn the old Carnegie library ; the Santa Rosa Public Library was housed for several years in temporary quarters in downtown Santa Rosa
1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Sonoma County Library