Corte Madera, California
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Corte Madera (;
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
for "Chop Wood") is an
incorporated town An incorporated town is a town that is a municipal corporation. Canada Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government. United States An incorporated town o ...
in
Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. Corte Madera is located south of San Rafael, at an elevation of 39 feet (12 m). The population was 10,222 at the 2020 census. The town was named after the Spanish imperative command "chop wood", as the area was famous for producing redwood tree lumber which was used in the construction of the city of
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.


Geography

According to the
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
, the city has a total area of , of which of it is land and of it (28.19%) is water.


History

The first post office in Corte Madera opened in 1878, and closed in 1880. The Adams post office opened in 1902, and changed its name later that year to Corte Madera. The name ''Adams'' honored Jerry Adams, its first postmaster. Corte Madera incorporated in 1916. The town of Corte Madera is situated on a portion of
Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio was a Mexican land grant in present day Marin County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to John (Juan) Reed. Corte Madera del Presidio means the "lumber mill of the Presidio". The grant enc ...
granted to John Reed in 1834 by Mexican Governor
José Figueroa José María Figueroa (1792 – 29 September 1835) was a Californio politician and military leader. He was a General and the Mexican Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835. His ''Manifesto'' (1835) was the first book published in Calif ...
. Reed quickly took to the lumber industry, logging the area's immense supply of redwoods and shipping the lumber to San Francisco by way of Corte Madera Creek — some of this wood was used to build the Presidio in San Francisco; the town's growth continued. In 1850, California joined the Union, and the Gold Rush, by then a year old, brought more settlers to the area. By 1875, the North Pacific Coast Railroad set its tracks through Corte Madera, allowing flatcars to haul lumber, and later, passenger trains to service commuters to and from San Francisco, aided in its early stages by the Sausalito ferry. A few of those commuters significantly influenced the formation of Old Town. In 1885, a New England lawyer, Frank Morrison Pixley, was guaranteed a title for from Reed's daughter, Hilarita. (Pixley later practiced law in San Francisco, became involved in local politics and founded an esteemed magazine called ''The Argonaut'', whose writers included Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce.) The Pixley family was credited with creating Corte Madera's first subdivision and with developing downtown. The population continued to grow (eventually exploding after construction of the Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937). The first business structure in Corte Madera was a hotel and tavern just south of the train station, built by Jerry Adams of Switzerland in 1898. The three-story building still exists today on First Street, between Corte Madera Avenue and Montecito Drive, and these days houses a beauty salon, an architectural sheet metal firm and a number of residential apartments. A smaller barn-like building constructed around that time behind the Adams's hotel went through its evolution as a hardware store, a mattress place, an antique shop, a design studio, a gallery and a neighborhood video store. Today it is a textile arts studio and Swedish textile home products store. Across from the railroad station, a huge barn was built in 1898, and was used as a livery stable, handy for horses to haul goods from nearby mines and for local freight delivery from the trains. In 1906, it then operated as Buckley & Co. general store for the next 50 years. After renovations, the barn exists today at the corner of Tamalpais Drive and Serra Street as a luxurious spa and full-service beauty salon. In 1905, Del Mahood came to Corte Madera to be the railroad agent and stationmaster. He was also a telegrapher and, along with his brother Foster, Del operated the local telephone agency, the post office and a sweets shop in their building next to the Episcopal Church. The Mahoods' building still stands, over a century later, on Redwood Avenue. Other buildings remain from that era: the dramatic triangular-peaked Holy Innocents church built in 1901 at the northeastern corner of Old Corte Madera Square still stands, as does the Presbyterian Church built on the old road above the square around the same time. Across from the Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, two stucco structures were built in the early 1900s. That property, featuring a creamery and an automobile repair shop, now exists as a yoga studio. Most of the remaining buildings around the historical village square went up in the 1920s and 1930s. The square around the train station was the original center of Corte Madera, around which everything bloomed. Established in 1916 and preserved by the Women's Club, Railroad Park is located in the northwest quadrant of the old train station square. It was renamed Menke Park in the early 1950s after the town leased the property from the railroad and took over maintenance of the land. Several homes constructed during that time pay tribute to the New England-influenced architecture of the late 1880s, and can still be seen in the Old Square's surrounding neighborhoods. The hill at the base of Corte Madera is called Christmas Tree Hill because the early street lights (and later, the lighted homes) on the hill leading up to Mt. Tamalpais create the shape of a lighted Christmas tree.


Community festivals

The
Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...
celebration—joining Corte Madera and its "twin city", Larkspur—draws thousands of spectators and residents from all over the Bay Area. The event includes a parade through Old Town, as well as festivities and a picnic in the nearby Town Park. During the Parade, winning baseball teams are in the parade, such as the minors Indians, in 2015 From the 1950s until the early 1970s, Holy Innocents Episcopal Parish held an Epiphany pageant with all of the church's younger members costumed and singing, followed by a Christmas tree bonfire in the triangle outside of the church. Residents would drop off their trees after Christmas and the fire department would supervise the burning on the twelfth day of Christmas (Epiphany). In some years, the church handed out candles to attendees. The rector of the church, Reverend Todd Ewald, chose to discontinue the bonfire in the early 1970s, saying he wanted to do it voluntarily before the growing environmental movement forced the change.


Demographics


2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Corte Madera had a population of 10,222. The population density was . The racial makeup of Corte Madera was 74.7%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.8%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.7% Native American, 8.2% Asian, 0.1%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 3.7% from other races, and 11.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.7% of the population. The census reported that 99.9% of the population lived in households, 3 people (0.0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 10 people (0.1%) were institutionalized. There were 3,990 households, out of which 38.4% included children under the age of 18, 55.2% were married-couple households, 4.3% were
cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...
couple households, 27.0% had a female householder with no partner present, and 13.4% had a male householder with no partner present. 24.2% of households were one person, and 12.6% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.56. There were 2,791
families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
(69.9% of all households). The age distribution was 25.3% under the age of 18, 5.9% aged 18 to 24, 19.8% aged 25 to 44, 30.8% aged 45 to 64, and 18.2% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 44.3years. For every 100 females, there were 91.6 males. There were 4,174 housing units at an average density of , of which 3,990 (95.6%) were occupied. Of these, 67.0% were owner-occupied, and 33.0% were occupied by renters. In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $220,771, and the
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
was $117,542. About 4.7% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line.


2010

The 2010 U.S. Census, reported that Corte Madera had a population of 9,253. The population density was . The racial makeup of Corte Madera was 7,808 (84.4%)
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 87 (0.9%)
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 15 (0.2%) Native American, 625 (6.8%) Asian, 29 (0.3%)
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 262 (2.8%) from other races, and 427 (4.6%) from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 772 persons (8.3%). The Census reported that 100% of the population lived in households. There were 3,793 households, out of which 1,346 (35.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 2,012 (53.0%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 377 (9.9%) had a female householder with no husband present, 131 (3.5%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 147 (3.9%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 31 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 1,027 households (27.1%) were made up of individuals, and 461 (12.2%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44. There were 2,520
families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
(66.4% of all households); the average family size was 2.99. The population was spread out, with 2,332 people (25.2%) under the age of 18, 390 people (4.2%) aged 18 to 24, 2,039 people (22.0%) aged 25 to 44, 3,009 people (32.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 1,483 people (16.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.0 males. There were 4,026 housing units at an average density of , of which 2,653 (69.9%) were owner-occupied, and 1,140 (30.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.8%. 6,668 people (72.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 2,585 people (27.9%) lived in rental housing units.


Government

Charles Lee is the mayor of Corte Madera. In 1980 the town merged its police department with that of its neighboring town of Larkspur to become the Twin Cities Police Authority, which subsequently merged in 2013 with the police department of San Anselmo to form the Central Marin Police Authority.


Federal and state

In the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
, Corte Madera is in . From 2008 to 2012, Huffman represented Marin County in the
California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...
. In the
California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...
, Corte Madera is in: * , and * .


Politics

In 2017, Corte Madera had 6,267 registered voters in total, with 3,553 (56.7%) registered as Democrats, 961 (15.3%) registered as Republicans, and 1,528 (24.4%) decline-to-state voters.


Economy

Restoration Hardware and
Il Fornaio Il Fornaio is a chain of twenty (as of 2019) Italian-themed fine dining restaurants operating primarily in California (16 locations of its 20) in the United States. History The Il Fornaio brand was established in 1972 as a baking school in Barl ...
are headquartered in Corte Madera.
The Village at Corte Madera The Village at Corte Madera is an upscale lifestyle center located in Corte Madera, California. It opened in September 1985 with department stores Macy's and Nordstrom, and is owned and operated by Macerich. History The Village at Corte Madera ...
and
Town Center at Corte Madera A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
are the local
shopping malls A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generi ...
. The Old Corte Madera Town Square, surrounding Piccolo Pavilion, is home to the historic buildings mentioned in this article as well as local shops including hair salons, consignment stores, arts classrooms, and Swedish textile products.


Education

The Larkspur-Corte Madera School District serves most of Corte Madera for elementary and middle school.
Text list
/ref> Neil Cummins Elementary School and Hall Middle School serve both Corte Madera and Larkspur. Neil Cummins serves grades K to 5, while Hall serves grades 6 to 8. The former San Clemente Elementary School has been reopened as The Cove School. In lieu of an extensive retrofit of the existing structures, new buildings have been built on the same site. This school will serve neighborhoods currently served by Neil Cummins Elementary, mostly to the west of Highway 101, and new developments in the area. A portion of Corte Madera is in the Reed Union Elementary School District.
Tamalpais Union High School District The Tamalpais Union High School District or TUHSD provides high school education to students residing in ten elementary districts in central and southern Marin County, California and parts of West Marin. The headquarters are on the property of ...
serves all parts of Corte Madera for high school. Redwood High School in Larkspur serves Corte Madera. Marin Country Day School is a local private school. A primary campus of the
Lycée Français de San Francisco The ''Lycée Français de San Francisco'' (LFSF), previously known as the ''Lycée Français La Pérouse'', is a private school in the San Francisco Bay Area. It welcomes students from preschool through middle, and high school grades. It has a pr ...
was formerly located in Corte Madera, until the campus moved to nearby
Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...
in 2013.


See also

* List of people from Marin County, California *
Larkspur, California Larkspur is a city in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. Larkspur is located directly south of Kentfield, California, Kentfield and south of San Rafael, California, San Rafael, at an elevation of . As of the 2 ...
* Corte Madera Creek


References


External links

*
Corte Madera Library
{{authority control Populated places in Marin County, California Incorporated cities and towns in California 1878 establishments in California Populated places established in 1878 Cities in the San Francisco Bay Area Populated coastal places in California