NOVATO

city, Marin county, western California, U.S. It lies along Novato Creek, between San Pablo Bay (east) and Point Reyes National Seashore (west). The original site was partly on the Rancho de Novato, an 1839 Mexican land grant that occupied most of the Canada de Novato (a valley probably named for a Christianized Indian chief). Francis C. DeLong acquired the land and founded the community in 1888. It remained a small agricultural village until 1935, when Hamilton Field (now Hamilton Air Force Base) was established there. Postwar development has been mainly residential, the chief industry being the large McGraw-Hill Book Distribution Center. Inc. 1960. Pop. (1991 est.) 48,576.