Blue Wing Inn

The Blue Wing Inn
From the [Sonoma State Historic Park Plan] November, 1986. Used with permission.

Blue Wing Hotel: The building which became know as the Blue Wing Inn is believed to be originally a one-room adobe constructed by Antonio Ortega, who was the reputedly unsavory mayordomo of the Solano Mission under Vallejo’s administration for secularization. James C. Cooper reached Sonoma in early 1847, and by the middle of the year, had rented the Ortega adobe. Apparently at this point Cooper added the eastern section of the ground room creating a kitchen and dining room.¹ In 1849 Cooper combined with Thomas Spriggs, reportedly a former partner of Cooper earlier in Yerba Buena (San Francisco), where they had operated a saloon or tavern. In mid-1849, they decided to open a hotel. It was the third hotel to open in Sonoma. Cooper had been in partnership in an earlier hotel venture with Jesse L. Beasley, at the corner of Spain and East First streets. Soon after formation of the Cooper and Spriggs partnership and the move to the Blue Wing site, the western addition went up.²

In October, the hotel’s saloon was moved from the old central portion into the western addition. The upper story was probably added at this time.³ The structure now basically complete was a low, two-story hotel, about 95 feet in length by 35 feet in width. The doors on the ground floor opened directly onto the street, and onto front and back wooden verandas on the second floor. During this same time period, a north-south extension was added to the southwest corner of the hotel. The purpose of this structure is not known. An adobe wall, located in the rear of the site, was built of salvaged material by the last owner of the property, William Black.

The hotel was called the Sonoma House. The title “Blue Wing Hotel” apparently replaced “Sonoma House” in mid 1851. Spriggs died in mid-1851, and Cooper apparently continued the hotel until shortly before his death in early September 1856. In late May 1856 Cooper had sold the property to Martin E. Cooke, his lawyer. It would appear that at this time, the hotel ceased to operate.

The building was subsequently used as an apartment, with the downstairs remaining as a saloon, the Blue Wing Tavern. During the next roughly one hundred years the structure passed through the hands of many owners serving as both business establishments and residences.