Arcata (; ; ) is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first founded in 1850 as Union, was officially established in 1858, and was renamed Arcata in 1860. It is located north of San Francisco (via Highway 101), and is home to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. Arcata is also the location of the Arcata Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Land Management, which is responsible for the administration of natural resources, lands and mineral programs, including the Headwaters Forest, on approximately of public land in Northwestern California.

History

Indigenous Native American The Wiyot people and Yurok people inhabited this area prior to the arrival of Europeans and continue to live in the area. "Kori" is the name for the Wiyot settlement that existed on the site of what would become Arcata. The name "Arcata" comes from the Yurok term oket'oh, meaning "where there is a lagoon" (referring to Humboldt Bay), from o-, "place", plus ket'oh, "to be a lagoon". The same name was also used by the Yuroks for Big Lagoon. The natives of this region are the farthest-southwest people whose language has Algic roots, a language family shared with the Algonquian. The traditional homeland of the Wiyot ranged from the Little River in the north and continues south through Humboldt Bay (including the present cities of Eureka and Arcata) and then south to the lower Eel River basin. The traditional homeland of the Yurok ranges from Mad River to beyond the Klamath River in the north. Today, Arcata is the headquarters of the Big Lagoon Rancheria tribe, who maintain a reservation close by. Local Indian tribes operate several casinos in the area. In a coordinated 1860 massacre, significant numbers of Wiyot people were killed by white settlers at several locations in and around Humboldt Bay, including the center of their society, the island known to them as Duluwat Island. A local newspaper editor, who would later be known as Bret Harte, was forced to leave the Humboldt Bay area after he editorialized his disgust with the incident.

Westernization

The Spaniards claimed the area but never settled it; the first permanent settlements occurred after California was admitted to the Union. Arcata was first settled as Union in 1850. Union was created as a port, and reprovisioning center for the gold mines in the Klamath, Trinity, and Salmon mountains to the east, and was very briefly the county seat during this period. It was slightly closer to the mines than Eureka, which gave Union an early advantage. What was to become the first significant town on Humboldt Bay began as Union Company employees laid out the plaza and first city streets in the Spring of 1850. By later in the 1850s redwood timber replaced the depleted gold fields as the economic driver for the region and Eureka became the principal city on the bay due to its possession of the better harbor, gaining it the county seat by the end of the decade.Van Kirk, Susan. (1986).The Plaza. White City Publishing. Arcata, CA.

The Union town post office opened in 1852, and the town changed its name to Arcata in 1860.

In 1886, concern over the growing number of unassimilated immigrants led Arcata to expel its Chinese population and enact the following resolution: "We, the citizens of Arcata and vicinity, wish the total expulsion of the Chinese from our midst. We endorse the efforts of Eureka to exclude all Chinese settlements in the city and environs."

History and images of early settler families in Arcata are cataloged in the Susie Baker Fountain Papers and True Hoyle Collection at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. These collections also include images of important social events in the Arcata area, such as graduations at Arcata High School as early as 1910, as well as images of social gatherings at the Arcata plaza before the statue of William McKinley was erected in the center from 1906 until its relocation in 2019.

Recent history Since the 1970s, Arcata has been home to multiple major manufacturing companies, specifically in the outdoor industry. Yakima Racks, a major car racks and bike accessories company, was headquartered in Arcata from 1979 to 2005, when the company moved to Oregon. Moonstone Mountaineering, founded out of a van at Moonstone Beach in 1977, was a major innovator in down sleeping bags, waterproof gear, and fleece before being bought and closed by Columbia Sportswear in 2006. Kokatat, founded as Blue Puma in 1971 and renamed in 1986, is a major watersports clothing company headquartered in Arcata that specializes in waterproof apparel for kayaking, and outfits the US Coast Guard, Navy SEALs, and SWCC, US watersports teams for 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics and the movie The Bodyguard. Wing Inflatables, founded in Arcata in 1991, manufactures polyurethane Inflatables boats used by riverboat tours, as well Navy SEALs, Coast Guard, NOAA, and NASA.

In August 1989, the voters of Arcata passed the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Act, prohibiting work on nuclear weapons, and the storage or transportation of nuclear weapons within the city limits. The ordinance also minimized the city's contracts for and purchases of the products and services of nuclear weapons contractors. On March 17, 2010, the Arcata city council voted for final passage of an unlawful-panhandling ordinance (Ordinance No. 1399). Among other restrictions, it forbids panhandling within of any business.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , comprising 17.25%, is water.

Arcata contains major public and shopping areas within the city. They include: the Downtown/Plaza Area, Northtown, and Valley West (each of these are also large neighborhoods). There are additional named neighborhoods encompassed by the city: They include: Aldergrove, Alliance (which was once a separate community located North of Arcata), Arcata Bottoms, portions of Bayside (despite it having its own Post Office and postal code), Bayview, California Heights, the Creamery District, Fickle Hill (lower portions), Greenview, the Marsh District (aka South G Street), Redwood Park (which includes the City-owned Redwood forest), Sunny Brae, Sunset, and Westwood. Arcata also has the Arcata Marsh, a preserve located on the city's bay shore.

Climate Arcata has a cool-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb), which is dominated by marine influences associated with Humboldt Bay and the Pacific Ocean. These influences make the climate in the city much cooler than that of a typical Mediterranean climate and more on par with that of an oceanic climate. On average, Arcata experiences of rain per year, though there is a short but pronounced dry season from June to September. Northerly winds keep the spring very cool and create a coastal upwelling of deep, cold, ocean water. This upwelling in turn results in foggy conditions throughout the summer, with high temperatures commonly in the 50s and low 60s. Yet just a few miles inland the temperatures may be up to degrees warmer in the summer and fall. This is even more pronounced further inland in the Trinity River valley.

Winter high temperatures average in the low 40s to mid-50s, with lows in the mid-30s to lower 40s. Temperatures infrequently dip below in the winter, and nearly as infrequently climb above in the summer and fall.

Arcata has higher record temperatures than county seat Eureka, although averages are very similar.

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

+ Race and Ethnicity Racial and ethnic composition 2000 2010 2020 White (non-Hispanic) 81.3% 76.33% 64.41% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 7.22% 11.61% 19.83% Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 4.25% 4.99% 7.49% Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 1.48% 1.87% 2.54% Asian (non-Hispanic) 2.23% 2.52% 2.44% Native American (non-Hispanic) 2.31% 1.87% 2.08% Other (non-Hispanic) 1.03% 0.62% 0.97% Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0.18% 0.18% 0.24%

Logging bust

Changing populations have happened in timber and mining towns in the American West as a result of boom and bust economic cycles. Some towns decrease in population following a bust, while some, like Arcata, experience a change in demographics. In the case of Arcata, the peak and the bust were close due to Arcata's relatively late entry into the timber industry, and its domination by mechanization. The population of the city of Arcata was 3,729 during its peak 1950, when lumber was exported throughout the country and abroad. For the County of Humboldt, the age distribution for urban residents, which would include Arcata, had 23.7% of the population under the age of 15. Those that would be considered young workers (age 15–24) made up 14% of the population. "Normal" aged workers (age 25–39) made up 23.9% of the population. Older working age (age 40–54) made up 19.4% of the population. Pre-retirement aged (age 55–64) made up 9.7% of the population. Those of retirement age (age 65 and older) made up 9.1% of the population. For Arcata specifically, those age 65 and older were 8.3% of the population in 1950, and the median age was 29.4 years.United States Census of 1950

After the bust in 1955, the population of Arcata in 1960 was 5,235. In Arcata the population under the age of 15 was 28.1%. Those age 15–24 made up 22.8% of Arcata's population. Those age 25–39 made up 19.4% of the population. Those age 40–54 made up 16% of Arcata's population. Those age 55–64 made up 6.7% of Arcata's population. Those age 65 and over made up 6.9% of Arcata's population.United States Census of 1960

Overall, census data reflects a lowering in the age of the Arcata population, due to an influx of young workers, due to there not being enough time after the bust for older workers to leave, in the decade between 1950 and 1960, during which the timber industry peaked and busted.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Arcata had a population of 18,857. The median age was 28.5 years. 13.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.5 males age 18 and over.

99.6% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.4% lived in rural areas.

There were 7,850 households in Arcata, of which 19.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 21.9% were married-couple households, 30.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 34.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 37.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 8,423 housing units, of which 6.8% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.6% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.0%.

+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 13,226 70.1% Black or African American 523 2.8% American Indian and Alaska Native 558 3.0% Asian 501 2.7% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 46 0.2% Some other race 1,637 8.7% Two or more races 2,366 12.5% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 3,739 19.8%

2010 census The 2010 United States census reported that Arcata had a population of 17,231. The population density was .

The racial makeup of Arcata was: 14,094 (81.8%) White, 2,000+ (11.6%) Hispanic or Latino, 1,135 (6.6%) from two or more races, 769 (4.5%) from other races, 454 (2.6%) Asian, 393 (2.3%) Native American, 351 (2.0%) African American, and 35 (0.2%) Pacific Islander,

The Census reported that 15,486 people (89.9% of the population) lived in households, 1,745 (10.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 were institutionalized.