Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Soledad, CA

Soledad's name is the Spanish word for 'solitude.'

Soledad began with Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, founded on October 9, 1791, by Father Fermin de Lasuen - the 13th of California's 21 Spanish missions.

The modern town was developed in the 1860s and 1870s by Catalina Munras on her Rancho San Vicente, and in 1873 she donated lots for a church, a school, a cemetery and the railroad.

For thirteen years Soledad served as the southern terminus of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the Salinas Valley.

Soledad was incorporated on March 9, 1921.

Soledad is a gateway community for Pinnacles National Park, whose western entrance lies about 10 miles east of the city.

John Steinbeck used Soledad and its surrounding farmland as the backdrop for his novella 'Of Mice and Men.'

Two state prisons stand inside Soledad - the Correctional Training Facility three miles north of downtown, annexed into the city in 1992, and Salinas Valley State Prison, added in 1996.

Because the census counts prison inmates where they are held, Soledad's official population runs far ahead of its household base.

Restoration of the old Soledad mission began in 1954 under the Native Daughters of the Golden West.