NAPA

city, seat of Napa county, west-central California, U.S., on the Napa River. It was founded as the county seat in 1848 by Nathan Coombs partly on the Rancho Napa, an 1838 Spanish grant. As the head of river navigation, it became a port for the shipment of cattle, lumber, and quicksilver to San Francisco (50 miles south). It developed as an outlet for farm produce and is best known for table wines produced in the Napa valley's many vineyards. Later economic factors include the manufacture of steel pipe and leather goods, Napa State Hospital, and Napa Valley College (1942). Inc. 1872. Pop. (1990) city, 61,842; Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa PMSA, 451,186.