In 1882, a serial entrepreneur named Joseph J. Groom came to Petaluma with a juicy proposition to open a fruit cannery. Not only would it be an instant money maker, he claimed it would also transform the city into a major fruit basket of the world.[1]
Petaluma was ripe for the taking. Growth in the once thriving river port had stagnated since 1870, when the new San Francisco & Northern Pacific Railroad shifted the region’s main agricultural shipping hub to Santa Rosa. A five-year national recession that followed in the mid-1870s, along with the collapse of California’s wheat boom—an engine of local prosperity since the late 1850s, further stymied Petaluma’s growth.[2]
Canning offered the attractive aroma of industrialization. No longer would fruit and vegetables be left to rot in the fields due to market fluctuations in supply and demand. Processed into canned fruit, jams, jellies, preserves, pickles, catsups, and sauces, they would be profitably exported around the world in tins.
The first west coast cannery factories—the San Jose Fruit Packing Company and the Golden Gate Cannery—opened in the Santa Clara Valley during the early 1870s.[3]
A co-founder of the Golden Gate Cannery, Groom became a tin-can evangelist in the early 1880s, leading the launch of new canneries in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.[4] He came to Petaluma at the invitation of two of the area’s leading fruit growers, John W. Cassidy and Francis DeLong.
Both Cassidy and DeLong made their way to California during the gold rush. In 1853, Cassidy co-founded the state’s first nursery in Oakland, importing 50,000 fruit trees from the east coast. In 1858, he moved to Petaluma, creating a 20-acre orchard at the northwestern outskirts of the city. He planted 4,000 fruit trees, the majority of them cherries, after which his orchard became known as Cherry Hill.[5] In 1874, he invented a new fruit dryer and opened a fruit drying plant in town, only to watch it burn down within a month.[6]
Francis DeLong was a land baron. After operating a hardware store in San Francisco, in 1856 he and an orchardist named Joseph Sweetser purchased 8,871-acres of the Rancho de Novato just south of Petaluma.[7]
Over time they expanded the ranch to 15,000 acres, leasing much of it to dairy ranchers. On 250 acres they planted 30,000 fruit trees, most of them apples, creating one of the largest orchards in the state. In 1879, DeLong bought out Sweetser, and brought on his 36-year-old son, Frank, Jr., as a partner.[8]
A year after Groom’s visit to Petaluma, DeLong and Cassidy joined with four local capitalists—A.P. Whitney, John Fritsch, H.T. Fairbanks, and Conrad Poehlman—to build a cannery along the Petaluma River at First and F streets.[9] With Groom overseeing the launch, the Petaluma Fruit Packing Company opened in time for the 1883 harvest season, which extended from June through December.[10]
In its first year of operation, the cannery generated about $100,000 in revenue ($3.2 million in today’s currency).[11] Of its initial 100 employees, 60 were women and teenaged girls, cannery operators having recognized their “domestic” skills in sorting, cutting, slicing, and preparing fruit. Fourteen Chinese men operated the tin-making shop, and 26 European immigrants manned the warehouse.[12]
Groom left the company after its first year to launch a new cannery in Napa. He was replaced by Delmar E. Ashby, who had worked for San Francisco’s largest cannery, A. Lusk & Co.[13] By 1885, the Petaluma cannery was operating at full capacity. That same year, DeLong died, leaving an estate of $650,000 ($22 million in today’s currency) to his son Frank, Jr.[14]
Frank had been elected the year before to the California state Senate. Flush with his new inheritance, he bought out Cassidy and the cannery’s other seed investors, and formed a new partnership, DeLong, Ashby & Co., with Ashby and a San Francisco fruit broker. He then expanded the cannery to encompass the entire riverside block of First Street between F and G streets.[15]
By the late 1880s, the Petaluma Fruit Packing Company was on its way to becoming one of the leading canneries on the west coast. With 500 seasonal workers, it was annually exporting 2 million cans of fruit and vegetables around the world.[16]
New canneries were also springing up in Healdsburg, Sebastopol, and Santa Rosa, the largest of which would become the Hunt Brothers, predecessors of Hunt’s Ketchup.[17]
Inspired by the cannery’s success, Petaluma capitalist John A. McNear set out to create a Factory District along the banks of the Petaluma River. To lure factories up from San Francisco and Oakland, he offered inexpensive land, generous financing, and easy shipping via his newly-dredged McNear Canal. In 1892, he persuaded the Carlson-Currier Company to build a major silk mill across the river from the cannery.[18]
With the cannery and silk mill serving as industrial pillars, Petaluma began marketing itself as the North Bay’s new manufacturing center.[19] In 1893, that campaign stumbled when the Petaluma Fruit Packing Company abruptly shut its doors during harvest season.[20]
Senator Frank DeLong, Jr. might have inherited his father’s money, but not his business acumen. With a proclivity for extravagance, the senator spent his inheritance on mansions, show horses, lavish parties, and every new-fangled idea that came his way.[21] His house of cards all came tumbling down during the financial panic of 1893, leaving him half a million of dollars in debt ($18 million today’s currency). Three Petaluma lenders—Isaac Wickersham, William Hill, and George P. McNear—were among those left holding the bag.[22]
Liens were placed on all of DeLong’s assets, including the Petaluma Fruit Packing Company. Attempts were made to reopen the cannery, but potential investors worried their money would be confiscated by creditors.[23]
The cannery sat vacant until 1906, when Heynemann & Company, manufacturers of “Can’t Bust ‘Em” overalls, purchased the plant after losing their San Francisco factory in the earthquake that year.[24]
Heynemann later purchased an adjacent block upon which to build a second plant, but was unable to find sufficient bedrock to support a concrete building. In 1913, the firm moved back to San Francisco, selling the plant to George P. McNear, who converted it into warehouses.[25]
Senator DeLong died penniless.[26] Cassidy meanwhile expanded his Cherry Hill orchard to 53 acres. In 1894, he successfully sued the Hunt Brothers for manufacturing fruit drying machines based on his 1874 patent.[27] He and Petaluma capitalist William Hill then raised $100,000 ($3.5 million in today’s currency) to launch the Sonoma County Fruit Company, which brokered the export of fruit to the east coast.[28]
With the cannery’s demise, Petaluma’s dream of becoming a manufacturing center was overtaken in the 1890s by a local poultry boom. Using an efficient egg incubator invented by Petaluma dentist Isaac Dias, Two Rock rancher Chris Nisson industrialized chicken ranching by establishing America’s first commercial hatchery.[29]
The resulting poultry boom rejuvenated Petaluma’s economy. Instead of becoming the “World’s Fruit Basket,” the city became widely known as the “World’s Egg Basket.”
A version of this story was published in the Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 20, 2026.
******
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “Editorial Dashes,” Petaluma Courier, February 15, 1882; “D.E. Ashby, Old Settler of Palo Alto, Passes,” The Peninsula Times Tribune, November 22, 1923.
[2] James Gerber, “The Gold Rush Origins of California’s Wheat Economy,” http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1405-22532010000200002; Santa Rosa: A Nineteenth Century Town (Historia, Ltd., 1985), p. 102; “Sonoma County,” Petaluma Courier, December 10, 1890; U.S. Census: Petaluma’s population essentially plateaued from 2,868 in 1870 to only 3,871 by 1900, while Santa Rosa’s grew from 2,989 in 1870 to 6,673 by 1900. Petaluma’s population increased to 5,880 in 1910, thanks largely to the egg boom.
[3] “Golden Gate Fruit Packing Company,” San Jose Mercury News, August 2, 1877; “Obituary,” Los Gatos Mail, April 25, 1901; “A New Industry,” San Jose Mercury News, April 22, 1873; “Fruit Canning and Drying,” Petaluma Argus, April 25, 1873; “The Cannery,” Napa County Register, April 9, 1886;
“Cannery Life in the Santa Clara Valley,” History San Jose.com, https://historysanjose.org/plan-your-visit/exhibits-activities/online-exhibits/cannery-life-del-monte-in-the-santa-clara-valley/
[4] “Santa Barbara Fruit Cannery, “ Santa Barbara Morning Press, April 1, 1880; “The City,” Santa Barbara Morning Press, March 11, 1881; “Important Industry,” Los Angeles Daily Commercial, June 23, 1881.
[5] Sanuel Cassiday, “J.W. Cassidy,” History of Sonoma County (Lewis & Co., 1889), pps. 465-466; “Strawberries,” Sonoma County Journal, May 27, 1859; “About Cherries,” Petaluma Argus, May 29, 1874. Note: W. H. Pepper of the Liberty Nursery was the largest cherry producer; “Large Cherry Orchard,” Petaluma Argus, June 7, 1884; “Mrs. Cassidy Answers Call,” Petaluma Courier, October 21, 1913.
[6] “An Important Invention,” Petaluma Argus, June 26, 1874; “Cassidy Fruit Dryer,” Petaluma Argus, September 18, 1874; “The Fire Fiend,” Petaluma Argus, September 25, 1874.
[7] “Novato Hangs on to Rich History,” Marin Independent Journal, September 19, 2006.
[8] History of Marin County (Alley, Bowen & Co., 1880), p. 439-440; “A California Ranch,” California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, May 2, 1878; “Novato Hangs on to Rich History,” Marin Independent Journal, September 19, 2006.
[9] “The Cannery,” Petaluma Argus, March 3, 1883; “Our Fruit Cannery,” Petaluma Courier, March 14, 1883; “Questions Answered,” Petaluma Argus, March 31, 1883.
[10] “Fine Canned Fruit,” Petaluma Argus, June 8, 1883; “Flattering Prospects of the New Enterprise at Petaluma,” San Francisco Call Bulletin, June 15, 1883.
[11] “Flattering Prospects of the New Enterprise at Petaluma,” San Francisco Call Bulletin, June 15, 1883.
[12] “Flattering Prospects of the New Enterprise at Petaluma,” San Francisco Call Bulletin, June 15, 1883.
[13] “Courierlets,” Petaluma Courier, August 8, 1883; “The Cannery,” Petaluma Argus, May 17, 1884; “The Cannery,” Napa County Register, April 9, 1886; “How Canning of California Products has Grown into a World-famous Industry,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 1, 1904; “D.E. Ashby, Old Settler of Palo Alto, Passes,” Peninsula Times Tribune, November 22, 1923.
[14] “Ranch Brings Cool Million,” Petaluma Argus, December 22, 1905.
[15] “Copartnership Notice,” Petaluma Courier, October 27, 1886. Note: Field & Stone, a fruit broker in San Francisco, was also partners in the new Delong, Ashby & Co.
[16] “The Petaluma Cannery,” Petaluma Courier, August 10, 1887; “Local Brevities,” Sonoma Democrat, July 31, 1888; “Petaluma Industries,” Petaluma Courier, July 10, 1889.
[17] Note: Joseph Black appears to have opened Sonoma County’s first factory-scale cannery in Santa Rosa in 1881 with 29 employees. He rebuilt it in 1887, after the building burnedr down (“Santa Rosa Items,” Cloverdale Reveille, August 20, 1881; “Santa Rosa Items,” Cloverdale Reveille, September 10, 1881; “About Tramps,” Petaluma Courier, September 22, 1886; “The New Cannery,” Sonoma Democrat, June 4, 1887). In 1888, J.H. Hunt started a cannery in Sebastopol (“Canning and Drying,” Sonoma Democrat, June 29, 1889), and T.S. Merchant started the Magnolia Cannery in Healdsburg (“Magnolia Cannery,” Healdsburg Enterprise, April 12, 1888). The Hunt Brothers Cannery opened in Sebastopol in 1889, and in 1890 expanded to plants in Santa Rosa and Carquinez to become the largest in the North Bay (“Local Brevities,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, July 21, 1889; “Cannery at Santa Rosa,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 11, 1890).
[18] “The Silk Mill,” Petaluma Courier, December 8, 1891; “Carlson-Currier Company,” Petaluma Courier, October 19, 1892;
[19] “Petaluma: Its Advantages, Industries, and Resources,” Petaluma Courier, October 19, 1892; “Nearly Eight Hundred,” Petaluma Courier, March 1, 1893.
[20] “Wanted: Work,” Petaluma Courier, August 11, 1893.
[21] “Ranch Brings Cool Million,” Petaluma Argus, December 22, 1905; “F.C. DeLong,” Petaluma Courier, June 28, 1910.
[22] “Ranch Brings Cool Million,” Petaluma Argus, December 22, 1905; “Ancient History Reviewed,” Petaluma Courier, February 7, 1913.
[23] “Wanted: Work,” Petaluma Courier, August 11, 1893; “The Rancho Novato,” Petaluma Courier, May 16, 1894.
[24] “Preparing for Business,” Petaluma Courier, May 12, 1906.
[25] “Big Deal is Now Pending,” Petaluma Argus, May 12, 1910; “Title Now Cleared on Heynemann Lot,” Petaluma Courier, May 19, 1911; “Heynemann Co. to Close Local Factory,” Petaluma Courier, June 18, 1913; “Fire Burns the McNear Warehouse,” Petaluma Courier, January 19, 1915; “Grass Fire is Cause of Still Alarm,” Petaluma Courier, October 30, 1915.
[26] “Ranch Brings Cool Million,” Petaluma Argus, December 22, 1905; “Ancient History Reviewed,” Petaluma Courier, February 7, 1913.
[27] “Damages for Infringement,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 30, 1891; Court Notes,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 18, 1892; “A Surprised Inventor,” San Francisco Examiner, August 31, 1893; Cassidy Won His Suit,” San Francisco Call Bulletin, October 30, 1894; Note: The Hunt Brothers appealed the decision, and Cassidy won the appeal.
[28] “Sonoma County Fruit Company,” Petaluma Courier, May 6, 1891; Cassidy sold his orchard in 1899 to J.B. Dickson, and died in Petaluma in 1903 (“A New Firm,” Petaluma Argus, October 5, 1899; “Pioneer Orchardist Dies,” San Francisco Examiner, August 9, 1903).
[29] “Who Really Invented the Petaluma Incubator,” PetalumaHisstorian.com, https://petalumahistorian.com/who-really-invented-the-petaluma-incubator.
