Among its notable points of interest are Glass Beach and the California Western Railroad (popularly known as the "Skunk Train").

A California Historical Landmark,[11] Fort Bragg was founded in 1857 prior to the American Civil War as a military garrison rather than a fortification.

[1] The area now known as Fort Bragg was home to Native Americans since before Western expansion, most of whom belong to the Pomo tribe.

It was 25,000 acres (100 km2) in size, and its boundary extended north from what is now Simpson Lane to Abalobadiah Creek and east from the Pacific Ocean to Bald Hill.

In the summer of 1857, 1st Lt. Horatio G. Gibson, then serving at the Presidio of San Francisco, established a military post on the reservation, approximately one and a half miles (2.4 km) north of the Noyo River, and named it for his former commanding officer Capt.

In October of that year, the Fort Bragg garrison was loaded aboard the steamer Panama and completed the evacuation and abandonment of Mendocino County's first military post.

The last remaining building of the Fort Bragg military post is located at 430 North Franklin Street.

The approximate boundaries of the fort extend from the south side of Laurel, east from the railroad depot to the carriage road behind Franklin, down the lane to a point 100 feet (30 m) south of Redwood Avenue, west on Redwood to just beyond the Georgia-Pacific Corporation company offices, then north to connect with the Laurel Street border at the railroad station.

Fort Bragg was incorporated in 1889 with C. R. Johnson as its first mayor, and Calvin Stewart drafting its plat maps.

Some of the new company lands were in the Noyo River watershed east of Fort Bragg making removal of logs difficult by rail, unless a tunnel was built.

In 1905, the California Western Railroad and Navigation Company was established and plans were pushed to get the rail line all the way to Willits, where train connections to the Northwestern Pacific would link to San Francisco.

Coincidentally, the earthquake brought real prosperity to Fort Bragg as the mills furnished lumber to rebuild San Francisco, and the lumber ships returning from San Francisco were ballasted with bricks used for rebuilding Fort Bragg.

In 1916, the Union Lumber Company built a railroad from the South Fork of Ten Mile River to Fort Bragg,[18] where its operations were.

[19][20] The Union Lumber Company established its own post office on Churchman Creek to service its logging camps there in 1931,[21] but it operated only until 1932.

[12] The railroad was removed in 1945 as rail transport was replaced by haulage by truck; nowadays it is a recreational corridor in MacKerricher State Park.

As of July 2017[update], the mill site was sold and is undergoing redevelopment, including removal of toxic waste.

[16] The mayor of Fort Bragg at that time, Lindy Peters, stated that there was not really much interest among the residents, and cited the costs that every company and institution in the area would have to pay to change all of the addresses.

[citation needed] Due to Fort Bragg's location on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, the city has very mild weather throughout the year compared to most inland places.

[28] The extreme maritime effect of the Pacific Ocean is demonstrated by the fact that Fort Bragg has uniquely cool summers for cities on the 39th parallel north, both domestically and internationally.

To illustrate the extremes of Fort Bragg, coastal climates with warmer summers than the city are found as far north as on the 66th latitude on the Bothnia Bay in between Sweden and Finland, a net latitudinal anomaly of 27 degrees.

In places some miles inland, consistently hotter summer temperatures are found, a phenomenon typical of the Californian coastline.

A trail that extends over a mile along the coast from the Noyo River Headlands north along the bluff over the Pacific Ocean reaches the former Georgia-Pacific mill site.

[citation needed] Built in 1892, the Guest House Museum served as lodging for the owners of Union Lumber Company, VIP visitors, and potential buyers of ULCO products.

Steam passenger service was started in 1904, and then extended in 1911 through the Coast Redwood forests to the city of Willits, 40 miles (64 km) inland.

Started in 1885 as a rail route for moving large logs to the mills, the Skunk Train now offers scenic tours through the redwoods.

[citation needed] State Route 1 (the Pacific Coast Highway) passes through Fort Bragg, concurrent with and signed as Main Street within the city limits.

[42] Federally, Fort Bragg is in California's 2nd congressional district, represented by Democrat Jared Huffman.

[45] Several major movies have been filmed in and around Fort Bragg, including: As a youth, Ken Sasaki noted that his home, Ōtsuchi, Japan, is located on the same latitude as Fort Bragg and in 2001 he contacted then-Mayor Lindy Peters and visited with a delegation to open discussions on a sister city agreement.

Fort Bragg students visited Otsuchi in 2002 and the Sister City Proclamation was solidified in 2005 by Mayor Dave Turner.

[55][56] Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami devastation of Otsuchi, Mayor Turner ordered that city flags be flown at half staff until the end of March to honor the thousands of lives lost.