Editing Stinson Beach, California (section)

==History==
Prior to the European colonization of California, the area was inhabited by groups of the [[Coast Miwok]] people.

Nathan H. Stinson bought land at the site in 1866.<ref name="CGN" />

In 1870, the first road was built along the Pacific coast from [[Sausalito, California|Sausalito]], and a tent settlement sprang up amongst the [[willow]] trees at the beach, which gave rise to the town's original name, Willow Camp. The [[Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway]] opened in 1896, making Willow Camp more accessible. Visitors could ride the train to West Point Inn and then hike or arrange a [[stagecoach]] to take them to the beach. In 1906, refugees from the [[San Francisco earthquake]] came to the area and built some of the area's first businesses. Stinson Beach became the official town name in 1916, in honor of the largest landowners, Rose and Nathan Stinson.

[[File:Stinson Beach RPPC 1916.jpg|thumb|left|alt=1916 photo postcard of Stinson Beach, showing Airey's Hotel to the left|1916 photo postcard of Stinson Beach, showing Airey's Hotel to the left]]
The first post office opened in 1916.<ref name=CGN />

In 1939, the beach was sold to Marin County.  It was transferred to the state of California in 1950, and was eventually transferred to the [[National Park Service]] in 1977.

In 1963, Merrill and Joann Grohman started the [[Pacific Sun (newspaper)|''Pacific Sun,'']] Stinson Beach's only newspaper of general circulation. It began operations in the back of a Stinson Beach's larger grocery store, Bill's Superette, in the space previously housing the Post Office.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Howell |first1=Daedalus |title=The Best of Marin 2023: Our paper at 60 |url=https://pacificsun.com/the-best-of-marin-2023/ |access-date=26 August 2023 |work=Pacific Sun |date=1 August 2023}}</ref>  The ''Sun'' moved to San Rafael in 1966.

In 2002, a surfer was attacked by a {{convert|12|to|15|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} [[great white shark]] while surfing off Stinson Beach. The young man survived, but received more than 100 stitches to close his wounds. The attack was the second in Stinson Beach, and the 13th in Marin County since 1952. In 1998, Jonathan Kathrein was attacked by a great white shark while bodyboarding. His injury from the shark bite required over 600 stitches.<ref>Santa Cruz Patch, [http://santacruz.patch.com/articles/man-who-was-attacked-by-a-great-white-shark-is-now-a-defender-of-the-predators "Man who was Attacked by a Great White Shark Now Wants to Save Them"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004085620/http://santacruz.patch.com/articles/man-who-was-attacked-by-a-great-white-shark-is-now-a-defender-of-the-predators |date=October 4, 2012 }} accessed November 12, 2012</ref><ref>''Los Angeles Times'', [https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2012-jun-03-la-ca-summer-nick-owchar-20120603-story.html "Summer reading: Pirates, poems and sharks"] accessed November 12, 2012</ref> The surf off Stinson Beach is within an area known as the [[Red Triangle (Pacific Ocean)|Red Triangle]], where there have been an unusually high number of [[shark attack]]s.<ref>[http://www.ptreyeslight.com/stories/jun06_02/shark_attack.html Shark attacks swimmer off Stinson Beach] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327135300/http://www.ptreyeslight.com/stories/jun06_02/shark_attack.html |date=March 27, 2010 }}</ref>

Marin County added 12 [[tsunami]] warning signs to the Stinson Beach shoreline in 2012 to explain the risk to beachgoers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marinij.com/westmarin/ci_21585406/tsunami-zone-warning-signs-headed-marin-coast |title='Tsunami zone' warning signs headed for Marin coast}}</ref>