A history snapshot of Petaluma Boulevard North from B Street to Western Avenue
Lower Main Street looking north from B Street, 1903 (photo Sonoma County Library)
Lower Main Street (extending from Western Avenue to B Street) was largely comprised in the mid-1800s of grain warehouses, a hitching post, a workingman’s hotel, and Petaluma’s Chinatown, filled with laundries, groceries, and living quarters.
In the 1880s, the new Masonic Lodge at the corner of Main and Western Avenue, along with the banishment of the Chinese from town, lead to an expansion of Main Street’s commercial area to B Street, anchored by the first McNear Building in 1886.
Lower Main Street looking north from B Street, circa 1930 (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
In 1922, the popularity of the automobile lead to the replacement of the hitching post with Center Park, as Lower Main filled up with shops, hardware stores, and groceries.
The decline of the poultry and dairy industries in the 1960s, along with the new shopping malls in East Petaluma, left downtown Petaluma pockmarked with empty shops, shuttered grain mills, and dilapidated old buildings.
Lower Main Street looking north from B Street, 1953 (photo Sonoma County Library)
In the mid-1970s, Mayor Helen Putnam championed historic restoration as a means of revitalizing the downtown, beginning with conversion of the Lan Mart and the Great Petaluma Mill into boutique malls of shops and restaurants.
Thanks to her efforts, Petaluma’s downtown evolved into the trendy nightlife and shopping district it is today. A set of architectural design guidelines were adopted by the city in 1999 to preserve the downtown’s historical legacy.
Lower Main Street looking north from B Street, 2022 (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)
A history snapshot of Petaluma Boulevard North from Washington Street to Western Avenue
Main Street looking north from below Western Avenue, circa 1900 (photo Petlauma Historical Library & Museum)
With the construction of the Masonic Lodge and the town clock in 1882, the center of town moved to Main Street and Western Avenue.
As the California wheat boom drew to an end in the 1880s, Petaluma agriculture transitioned to poultry and dairy ranching. By the late 1910s, Petaluma was the self-proclaimed “Egg Basket of the World,” providing residents with one of the highest incomes per capita in America.
The city’s prosperity filled Main Street with a profusion of professional offices—doctors, dentists, insurance agents, lawyers, real estate agents, and a chicken pharmacy.
Main Street looking north from below Western Avenue, circa 1930 (photo courtesy of Dan Brown Collection)
The first automobiles appeared in town in 1903. Five years later, the cobblestones of Main Street were paved in asphalt to provide for smoother driving. By 1920, Main Street was trafficked almost exclusively by automobiles.
The inclusion of Main Street as part of the new Redwood Highway in 1925, brought new business from a tourists, vacationers, and traveling salesmen.
Main Street looking north from below Western Avenue, circa 1950 (photo Petlauma Historical Library & Museum)
With the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937, Main Street was widened from two to four lanes to accommodate increased through traffic. That diminished with the opening of the freeway in 1957, after which Main Street was renamed Petaluma Boulevard.
The street returned to two lanes in the 2010s as part of a “road diet.”
Main Street looking north from below Western Avenue, 2022 (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)
A history snapshot of Petaluma Boulevard North at Washington Street
Main Street looking south from Washington Street, circa 1890s (photo Sonoma County Library)
Petaluma was founded in 1852 by George H. Keller, a failed gold miner from Missouri, who laid out Main Street between Oak and B streets on what had originally been part of a Coast Miwok trading route.
Main Street looking south from Washington Street, 1911 (photo Sonoma County Library)
The intersection of Main and Washington streets, from which these shots were taken over time, served as the initial center of town, a crossroads for carriage traffic and wagons from outlying farms. Citizens gathered in nearby Hill Plaza (today’s Penry Park) for community events.
Main Street looking south from Washington Street, 1950 (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
From the docks of the Petaluma River behind the street, flat-bottom scow schooners plied the Petaluma River to San Francisco, laden with potatoes, meat, and grains. Grain mills and warehouses lined both upper Main Street north of Washington Street, and lower Main Street from Western Avenue to B Street.
Construction in 1882 of the Masonic Lodge, capped by a town clock, shifted the center of town to Main Street and Western Avenue.
Petlauma Boulevard North (formerly Main Street) looking south from Washington Street, 2022 (photo courtesy Scott Hess)
A snapshot history of the Derby Building at 199 Petaluma Blvd. North
Derby Building, 1875, 199 Petaluma Boulevard North (Photo Sonoma County Library)
The Great Petaluma Fire of 1872 changed the face of the gateway into town. The wooden buildings on both the northwest and southwest corners of Petaluma Boulevard and Washington Street were destroyed. Developers quickly swooped in to fill the void. [i]
On the northwest corner, wheat merchants John and George W. McNear erected a large Italianate building to house both the Bank of Sonoma County and the Washington Hotel.
Bank of Sonoma, 1885 (photo Sonoma County Library)
On the southwest corner, Andrew B. Derby used the same elegant style for his Derby Building. [ii]
Italianate architecture was all the rage in the 1870s. To emulate the opulent homes of the Italian countryside, architects applied mass-produced cast-iron ornamentation to the buildings. The new McNear and Derby Italianate buildings set the trend for Petaluma’s Main Street architecture for the next two decades.
Like the McNears, Derby arrived in Petaluma from New England in the late 1850s, and quickly became as a dealer in local real estate.[iii] Before the 1872 fire, his main tenant on the corner of Main and Washington streets was a newspaper and magazine shop. The new Italianate building attracted a classier clientele.[iv]
Derby Building merchants, 1875: A.J. Snow’s Dry Goods Store on left, and A. Morris’ Cigars & Tobacco on right (photo Sonoma County Library)
For many years, Morris Cigar Store anchored the corner storefront, with a grocery or dry goods store in the Main Street storefront, and the Petaluma Courier newspaper and its presses in the Washington Street storefront. Upstairs was filled with the offices of dentists and doctors and a hall for performances, social gatherings, and community meetings. [v]
After Derby’s death in 1896, his heirs maintained the building until 1922, when it was purchased by John McNear’s son, George P. McNear. In 1925, McNear tore the Derby Building down, replacing it with a new Italian Renaissance style building to house the Sonoma County National Bank and the Petaluma Savings Bank. Covered in terra cotta tiles, the building was distinguished by its 28-foot high, cathedral-like ceiling, a popular style of banks at the time.[vi]
Bank of Sonoma in 1943, built 1928, purchased by Bank of America 1930 (photo Sonoma County Library)
In 1928, the Bank of America purchased the building to serve as its regional branch. Two years later, the Bank of America also purchased the Bank of Italy across the street on the northwest corner of Main and Washington streets to serve as its Petaluma branch.[vii]
The Bank of America operated both corner locations until 1968, when it combined the two branches into a new building on the northwest side of Washington Street and Petaluma Boulevard.[viii]
The former Sonoma County National Bank building on the southwest corner served as a real estate office in 1970s and 80s, a rug and antiques store in the 1990s and 2000s, and headquarters of The Seed Bank, an heirloom seed company, from 2009 to 2018. Since that time it has remained vacant. [ix]
Bank of Sonoma Building, 2002 (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)
FOOTNOTES:
[i] “Real Estate in Petaluma,” Petaluma Argus, March 30, 1872.
[ii] “Work Progress,” Petaluma Argus, April 20, 1872.
[iii] Ad, Petaluma Argus, March 18, 1869; “A Sudden Summons,” Petaluma Courier, December 9, 1896.
[iv] The News Depot was originally operated by G.C. Codding until 1866, when Derby took it over, apparently for Codding’s indebtedness, and Codding moved across the street. Derby sold the business in 1867 to Mose Korn: Ad, Petaluma Argus, June 7, 1866; Ad, Petaluma Argus, June 21, 1866.
[v] Ad, Petaluma Argus, March 17, 1873; “New Firm-New Store,” Petaluma Argus, September 11, 1874; “Local Brevities,” Petaluma Argus, September 10, 1880; “Par Excellence Club,” Petaluma Argus, September 13, 1872; “Entertainment To-Night,” October 31, 1872; “Woolen Mill Meeting,” Petaluma Argus, April 18, 1873.
[vi] “M. Goldman Buys Derby Block,” Petaluma Courier, January 5, 1922; “National Bank to Have New Home,” Petaluma Courier, February 2, 1923; “Doors of New Bank Building to Be Thrown Open to Public Tomorrow,” “The Marble Work for New Bank is a Real Work of Art,” Petaluma Argus, April 24, 1926; “Big Corner Deal Formally Closed and Bank of Italy Now in Possession,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 1, 1927.
[vii] Local Banks Merged with Bank of America,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 4, 1928; “A.P. Gianni to Merge Banks,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 4, 1930.
[viii] “Bank Opening,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 10, 1969.
[ix] Ad for Westgate Realty, Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 15, 1972; “Westgate Merges, Moves Across Town,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 12, 1987; “Setting Up Shop,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 10, 1995; “Ad for Monarch Interiors, Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 7, 2007; “Old Bank Building ‘Goes to Seed,’” Petaluma Argus-Courier, June 11, 2009; “Seed Bank Leaving Iconic Petaluma Bank Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 4, 2018.
A snapshot history of the Bank of America Building at 201 Petaluma Blvd. North
Bank of America Building, 2022 (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)
No site better expresses the changing look of Petaluma’s commercial architecture than the bank buildings that have occupied the northwest corner of Petaluma Boulevard and Washington Street since 1872.
Until 1865, local money lending was conducted by private bankers, most prominently attorney Isaac Wickersham and wheat merchants John and George W. McNear. In 1865, Wickersham opened I.G. Wickersham & Co., the first incorporated bank in Sonoma County.
The McNear brothers followed suit the next year, raising $100,000 ($2 million in today’s currency) to capitalize the Bank of Sonoma County. The bank initially operated at the southeast corner of Petaluma Boulevard and Washington Street.
In 1872, a fire burned down the Washington Hotel kitty corner to the bank. The McNears purchased the torched lot and constructed a new Italianate-style building to house both the bank and the Washington Hotel.
Bank of Sonoma County, est. 1866, 201 Petaluma Blvd. North (photo Sonoma County Library)
The building surpassed anything of its kind in Sonoma County. Standing at what was then the main entrance to Petaluma, it became the signature cornerstone of the city.
In 1926, the Bank of Sonoma County merged with Petaluma Savings Bank, and moved into a newly constructed building at 199 Main Street across the street (most recently the Petaluma Seed Bank).
Bank of Sonoma County & Petlauma Savings Bank, built 1926, purchased by Bank of American in 1930, 199 Petaluma Boulevard North (photo Sonoma County Library)
The former building was purchased by the Bank of Italy, which retained the Washington Hotel portion of the building, but replaced the bank itself with a new Spanish Revival-style structure. In 1930, the Bank of Italy merged into the Bank of America.
Bank of Italy, built 1928, 201 Petaluma Blvd. North (photo Sonoma County Library)
In 1967, all the buildings on the block between Petaluma Boulevard to Kentucky Street were torn down to widen Washington Street. In their place, the Bank of America constructed a modern-style building facing the Kentucky Street side of the block, converting the former bank site to a parking lot.
Bank of America Building, built 1967, with opening at Washington and Kentucky Streets (photo courtesy of Philip Squires)
Within 12 years, the Bank of America outgrew the building. Before tearing it down, they erected a new building on the original bank site at the corner of Petaluma Boulevard and Washington Street. It was designed in what the bank described as a “Victorian style” to better fit in with other buildings in the area.
Bank of America Building on the left built 1967, beside new Bank of America under construction in 1982, 201 Petaluma Blvd. North (photo Sonoma County Library)
Cosmopolitan Hotel (today’s parking lot beside McNear’s Saloon), circa 1900, built in 1866 as the New York Hotel (photo courtesy of the Dan Brown Collection)
The parking lot between the Lan Mart and McNear buildings on Petaluma Boulevard has seen many incarnations since 1853, when it housed the local post office and the first doctor’s office in town.
When Dr. Samuel W. Brown rolled into town in the spring of 1852, Petaluma was a very new community. It had been established just months before by George H. Keller, a failed gold miner from Missouri.
Brown, a physician and former postmaster from Hartford, Connecticut, Brown, came west in 1849 for the gold rush, then settled in Sacramento. Keller sold him a large lot running from Lower Main Street to Kentucky Street. Here he built one of the first houses in town. It served as a home for his family, as well as an office for seeing patients.
1855 illustration of Petaluma with Dr. Samuel W. Brown’s house and office marked in red; behind Dr. Brown’s house is the first Methodist Episcopal Church at 4th & A streets; Main Street runs to the right of Dr. Brown’s house, with the two-story American Hotel in the center (illustration Sonoma County Library)
In the fall of 1853, after Brown was appointed Petaluma’s postmaster—a position first held by Keller’s 21-year old son Garret—his house also became the local post office.[i]
A strong advocate of public education, in 1856 Dr. Brown was elected president of the board of the Bowers School, the town’s only public school. Four years later, he led the campaign to replace the dilapidated schoolhouse at Fifth and B streets in 1860 with the B Street or “Brick School,” which occupied the site until 1911, when it was replaced by Lincoln Elementary (today converted into an office complex).[ii]
B Street School, also known as the Brick School, built 1860 at the northeast corner of B and Fifth streets (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
A co-founder of the Sonoma County Republican Party, Brown ran for State Superintendent of Public Schools on the Republican ticket in 1860, but lost. He died two years later of a sudden heart attack. The children of the Brick School made enough 10 cent donations to purchase a tombstone for his grave, upon which they had inscribed “The children’s friend.”[iii]
Following Brown’s death, his home and office—declared a “Petaluma landmark” by the local newspaper—were moved to an unknown part of town. The lot was purchased in 1866 by George L. Purdy, a blacksmith from Valley Ford, who erected the New York Hotel on the site. Three stories high with 46 rooms, the first floor was occupied by two storefronts, initially for a grocery and a shoe store.[iv]
The hotel sat in the middle of Chinatown, adjacent to Chinese dwellings and businesses. Its point of distinction was as the hotel closest to the railroad depot at Second and B streets, which served the Petaluma & Haystack Landing Railroad. The line extended two-and-a-half miles south to the steamboat dock of Haystack Landing.
Unfortunately for Purdy, just prior to the opening of his hotel, the locomotive’s boiler blew up while the train was sitting at the depot, killing four people. It was replaced with a horse-drawn train car.[v]
After three years of struggling to make ends meet, Purdy sold the hotel. It turned over a couple of times before it was purchased in 1873 by Heinrich Matthies, the owner of the Union Hotel at the nearby corner of Main Street and Western Avenue (site of today’s Masonic Lodge), which he advertised as the “Deutsches Gasthaus” (German guest house).
Union Hotel (Deutsches Gasthaus), 1870s, originally located at the southwest corner of Main Street and Western Avenue, moved in 1882 to the northeast corner of Main and B Streets to make way for the new Masonic Building (illustration Sonoma County Library)
In 1876 Matthies remodeled and upgraded the New York hotel, renaming it the Cosmopolitan. On the Kentucky Street side, across from where City Hall would be built in 1886, he constructed a cottage for his family to live in.[vi] He also leased 11 rooms in the upper story of the new Centennial Building next door (today’s Lan Mart building), inserting a hallway to provide passage between the two buildings.
Cosmopolitan Hotel and Centennial Building (today’s Lan Mart), 1876 (illustration Sonoma County Library)
According to local lore, those 11 rooms served as a discrete brothel for hotel guests.[vii] If true, it would have most likely been in the late 1870s and 1880s, as the hallway between the two buildings was eliminated by the early 1890s.[viii]
After Matthies’ death in 1883, the Cosmopolitan became a workingman’s boarding house.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, circa 1910s (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
In 1919, Matthies’ son Henry, a San Francisco-based contractor, tore down the dilapidated hotel and erected a modern single story commercial building with two storefronts in its place.
The Matthies Building, 1930 (today’s parking lot beside McNear’s Saloon), featuring Bolton’s 5 cents to $1.00 Store and Alyne’s Women’s Apparel, built in 1919 (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
One storefront was occupied by Alyne’s, a women’s apparel shop operated by Alyne Thomas, the daughter of local grocery merchant Achille Kahn. The other was occupied by F.W. Woolworth’s department store. After Woolworth’s moved to the new Phoenix Building on Main Street in 1929, they were replaced by a discount shop called Bolton’s 5 cents to $1.00 Store.[ix]
In 1934, the Matthies family sold the building to Americo Gervasoni of the Gervasoni Finance Company, which owned a number of properties around town.[x] In May 1952, with the two storefronts occupied by Guy’s Furniture Store and the Petaluma Paint Store, a fire of unknown origin broke out behind the paint store, burning down the building. The brick frontage was later demolish. [xi]
Matthies Building, 1953, boarded up after fire in May 1952 gutted the building (photo Sonoma County Library)
The lot sat vacant for almost a decade, until it was leased by the Chamber of Commerce for merchant parking, as a means of opening up more street parking for shoppers.[xii]
Scene from “American Graffiti” featuring police car parked in the lot left by 1952 fire of the Matthies building (photo public domain)
In 1973, the parking lot was famously featured in a scene in the film “American Graffiti.” A teenager covertly attaches a cable to the rear axle of a police car parked in the lot watching for speeders on the boulevard. The teen then speeds by in a car with his friends, prompting the police to pull out of the lot in pursuit, only to have the axle and rear tires of their car ripped off by the cable.”[xiii]
This landmark location remains a private parking lot today.
Parking lot at 27 Petaluma Boulevard North, 2022 (photo John Sheehy)
******
FOOTNOTES:
[i] Ad for Dr. S.W. Brown, Hartford Courant, December 23, 1833; “Whig State Convention,” Hartford Courant, January 16, 1842; “The Guillotine in Motion!” Hartford Courant, February 2, 1843; “Physician Charges in Petaluma,” Sonoma County Journal, December 1, 1855; “The Indigent Sick,” Sonoma County Journal, November 18, 1859 ;“Sudden Death,” Sonoma County Journal, January 31, 1862; “An Old Landmark,” Petaluma Argus, August 16, 1866; “Appointments of U.S. Postmaster, 1832-1971, National Archives; ancestry.com lists Brown as assuming Petaluma postmaster’s position on December 14, 1853.
[ii] “School Notice,” Sonoma County Journal, January 26, 1856; “Laying the Cornerstone” Sonoma County Journal, August 12, 1859; “Our Public School House,” Sonoma County Journal, February 24, 1860.
[iii] Republican County Convention,” Sonoma County Journal, August 22, 1856; Political, ”Sonoma County Journal, August 10, 1860; “Sudden Death,” Sonoma County Journal, January 31, 1862; “Name Then,” Petaluma Argus, August 22, 1867; “G.F. Parker, Former Petaluma resident, Compiles History of B Street School,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, August 10, 1937.
[iv] “Dissolution of Copartnership,” Petaluma Argus, January 5, 1864; Frightful Explosion,” Petaluma Argus, August 30, 1866; “New York Hotel,” Petaluma Argus, November 8, 1866; Ad for Sullivan’s New York Hotel, Petaluma Argus, June 17, 1869; “Changing Hands,” Petaluma Argus, April 16, 1870; “Real Estate Transactions,” Petaluma Argus, February 7, 1873; Ad for New York and Union hotels, Petaluma Argus, October 1873; Munro-Fraser, History of Sonoma County (University of Wisconsin, 1880) p. 239.
[v] “Frightful Explosion,” Petaluma Argus, August 30, 1866.
[vi] “Improvements,” Petaluma Argus, May 12, 1876; “Local Brevities,” Petaluma Argus, August 18, 1876;
[vii] “Improvements,” Petaluma Argus, May 12, 1876.
[viii] The hallway between the two buildings is featured in both the 1883 and 1885 Sanborn maps, but not in the 1894 Sanborn map.
[ix] “Henry Matthies,” Petaluma Argus, September 29, 1883; “New Building and Two New Stories,” Petaluma Courier, June 28, 1919; “Get Notice to Vacate,” Petaluma Argus, June 30, 1919; The Woolworth Store Opening,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 30, 1929.
[x] “Gervasoni Finance Co. to Buy Matthies Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 23, 1934.
[xi] “Fire Destroys Two Stores in Petaluma,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 19, 1952.
[xii] “Chamber Parking Lease Due Today,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, June 28, 1961.
[xiii] “Movie Crews Film Scenes in Downtown Area,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, June 29, 1972; “Re-enacting ‘American Graffiti at 4:30 in the Morning,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, May 15, 2008.
A snapshot history of the Lan Mart Building at 35 Petaluma Blvd. North
The Centennial Stable and Druids Hall in the Centennial Building, late 1890s (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
For its first half century, half of this building served as a livery stable. The fieldstone wall from its original 1856 construction is still visible along the building’s interior hallway.
Built by S.G. McCollugh, the two-story Rough & Ready Stone Stable served guests at the adjacent Union Hotel to the north, where the Masonic Lodge sits today. An open stable yard extended from the back of the building all the way to Kentucky Street.[1]
In 1865, John Pfau, a German horse breeder, purchased the livery, and in 1876 incorporated it into a new building he constructed on its south side. He christened it the Centennial Building in honor of America’s 100th birthday.[2]
Early 1900s photo of The Ark dry goods store in the Centennial Building between the Masonic Lodge, right, and the Cosmopolitan Hotel, left (photo Sonoma County Library)
For the next half century, the Centennial Building, which sat in the middle of early Petaluma’s Chinatown, served as a social and commercial hub for German immigrants.
On the first level beside his livery, Pfau created two storefronts. The first was occupied by Centennial Headquarters, his high-class drinking establishment for ladies and gentlemen, offering classical and operatic music performances.
Ad for Centennial Headquarters, Petaluma Courier, 1877
In 1883, it was renamed the Eureka Saloon after Pfau’s champion stallion, and stayed in operation until Prohibition shut it down in 1920.[3] The other storefront featured the wine store of German immigrant Henry Dortmund, who established one of Petaluma’s first wineries near the end of Keokuk Street in Cherry Valley.[4
Ad for Wine Depot, Petaluma Courier, 1885
The front half of the Centennial Building’s second floor, the front half, where Old Chicago Pizza restaurant has pleased local taste buds for the past 45 years, was occupied by professional offices. The back half of the floor was divided into a meeting hall used as a lodge by the local fraternal chapter of German Druids—occupied today by a yoga studio—and 11 windowless rooms lit by skylights.
Pfau leased the rooms to Heinrich Matthies, a fellow German who operated both the Union Hotel and the New York Hotel, a boarding house on the south side of the Centennial Building, advertised them as “Deutsches Gasthaus.”[5]
The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Centennial Building (with sign for The Ark dry goods store), c. 1900 (photo courtesy of Dan Brown Collection)
In 1876, Matthies remodeled and upgraded the New York, renaming it the Cosmopolitan Hotel. He added a hallway to connect the rooms on the Centennial’s second floor to the hotel. Based on hearsay, these rooms were said to have served as a backdoor bordello for hotel guests.[6]
Layout of the Centennial Building and Cosmopolitan Hotel, 1883 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
Pfau doubled the size of the livery yard behind the Centennial Building extending to Kentucky Street, adding a carriage and wagon house. That came in handy on Saturdays, when as many as 1,000 farmers and ranchers drove their wagons into town to do their trading—this at a time when Petaluma’s population stood at only 3,300.[7]
In 1884, Pfau sold the Centennial Building to two young Germans, Christian and Jeppe Lauritzen, who opened a meat market on the first floor beside the Eureka Saloon. Ten years later, the Lauritzens sold the building to German hardware merchant Ludwig Gross. Renaming it the Gross Building, he rented out the storefront beside the Eureka to Herman and Josef Schoeningh, operators of a dry goods store called The Ark, for almost two decades.[8]
Beginning in 1902, Druids Hall on the second floor became headquarters of a German mutual relief society called Hermann Sons. In 1930, they moved into their lodge on Western Avenue. The hall also hosted meetings of the Dania Society, the Swedish Lodge, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. From 1940 to 1960, it served as the Moose Lodge.[9]
1950s photo of the Gross Building, Main Street entrance (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
After Gross’ death in 1908, his wife Hattie assumed ownership of the building. In 1911, she closed the livery—a victim to the increasing adoption of automobiles—and remodeled the building, redesigning the front in a Mission Revival style.[10]
In 1928, she hired Petaluma architect Brainerd Jones to design a new building for what had been the livery’s back lot facing Kentucky Street. From 1934 to 1967, that building was occupied by Ascherman’s Grocery, which, during the 1930s, extended its market across to the Gross Building on Main Street.[11]
Lan Mart Building’s Kentucky Street entrance, 2022 (photo public domain)
In 1972, Victor and Marisa DeCarli, who owned both Gross Buildings, combined them into a boutique shopping center of shops and restaurants based on San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square. Renamed the Lan Mart—a play on “landmark,” it kicked off a revitalization and restoration of Petaluma’s historic downtown buildings.[12]
Lan Mart Building’s Petaluma Boulevard entrance, 2002 (photo public domain)
******
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ad for the Dutch Horse Doctor at the Petaluma Livery Stable (McCullough’s livery), Sonoma County Journal, December 19, 1856; Ad for Rough & Ready Livery, Sonoma County Journal, August 7, 1857; Ad for McLaughlin’s purchase of livery, Sonoma County Journal, September 17, 1858.
[2] Ad for Pfau’s purchase of livery, Petaluma Argus, April 13, 1865; Local Brevities,” Petaluma Argus, July 23, 1875; “Pfau’s Centennial Building,” Petaluma Argus, March 3, 1876.
[3] “Centennial Headquarters,” Petaluma Argus, July 14, 1876; Ad for Centennial Saloon and Music Hall,” Petaluma Courier, March 7, 1878; Ad for Eureka horse, Petaluma Courier, May 31, 1877; Ad, Petaluma Courier, March 24, 1880.
[4] “In Town,” Petaluma Argus, July 18, 1883; “Courierlets,” Petaluma Courier, September 16, 1883; “County Notes,” Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar, November 10, 1998; “Has Answered the Call,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, November 12, 1898.
[5] “Real Estate Transactions,” Petaluma Argus, February 7, 1873; “Improvements,” Petaluma Argus, May 12, 1876; “The Druids,” Petaluma Courier, December 22, 1880; “A House Warming,” Petaluma Courier, June 3, 1897; “Pizza Lovers Rejoice,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 1, 1976.
[6] Ad, Petaluma Argus, October 1873; Adair Heig, History of Petaluma: A California River Town (Petaluma, CA: Scotwall Associates, 1982), p. 143.
[7] “Pfau’s Centennial Building,” Petaluma Argus, March 3, 1876; “Saturday in Petaluma,” Petaluma Courier, April 2, 1884; U.S. Census, Petaluma, 1880.
[8] “Real Estate Transactions,” Petaluma Argus, February 8, 1884; Ad for Lauritzen Meat Market, Petaluma Argus, April 28, 1888; “Change of Base,” Petaluma Courier, May 11, 1894; “Brevities,” Petaluma Courier, May 2, 1899; “Remodeling Building,” Petaluma Courier, April 5, 1917.
[9] “Society Dania,” Petaluma Courier, April 11, 1899; “Briefs,” Petaluma Courier, February 20, 1902; “Hermann Sons Elected Officers,” Petaluma Courier, March 21, 1902; “Mayor Farrell Officiates at Corner Stone Laying of Hermann Sons’ Hall,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 8, 1930; “V.F.W. News, Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 15, 1938; “VFW To Dedicate New Club Rooms,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 5, 1945; “Moose Lodges Leases Gross Hall,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 1, 1940; “Members Prepare New Hall for Occupancy,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, June 30, 1860.
[10] “Death of L.L. Gross,” Petaluma Argus, April 18, 1908; “Centennial Stable Closes After Half Century,” Petaluma Argus, September 1, 1911; “Contract Awarded,” Petaluma Argus, September 5, 1911.
[11] A.M. Seeberg Awarded Contract for New Gross Bldg,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 3, 1928; “Elegant New Building has Been Completed and Accepted,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 26, 1928; “Brainerd Jones Was Architect,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 26, 1928; “Ascherman Grocery Store Moves Over Week-end,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 7, 1934; “Ascherman Grocery Will Move to Gross Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 27, 1934; Ad announcing Ascherman’s sale,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 7, 1967; “Market Closes,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 13, 1970.
[12] First Ad for shop in the Lan Mart building, Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 9, 1972; “Lan Mart Stores are Commercial Experiment,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, February 15, 1973; “Lan Mart Center Has Grand Opening,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 6, 1973.
A snapshot history of the 1886 McNear Building at 23 Petaluma Blvd. North
McNear Building with presumably John McNear standing in front with horse and carriage, 1880s (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
In 1886, John A. McNear erected a two story, Italianate-style building across from what was then known as Lower Main Street Plaza, today’s Center Park.[1] The area was then part of Chinatown, which extended along Lower Main Street from Western Avenue to B Street, where Main Street became Third Street, and continued to D Street.[2]
Of the roughly 1,000 Chinese residing in Sonoma County at the time, more than 100 lived in Chinatown, where they operated five laundries, a tobacco shop, a variety store, a restaurant, and a grocery. There was also a Joss House, or Buddhist-Taoist Temple, Chinese Masonic Hall, and a Chinese Mission School conducted by the Congregational Church, which trained young Chinese men to return to China as Christian evangelists.[3]
John A. McNear (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
In the mid-1880s, Petaluma’s Anti-Chinese League temporarily drove most of the Chinese from Chinatown. McNear, who continued to employ two Chinese as house servants and many more Chinese at his shrimping operations and brickmaking factory in Marin County, came under personal attack by the League.[4]
1885 Sanborn map showing the cleared building site of the new McNear Building extending from Main Street to Fourth Street, beside a group of “Chinese Shanties” still standing (Library of Congress)
Immediately after the Chinese expulsion, McNear erected his building on the site of a group of abandoned Chinese dwellings known as “shanties” beside the Cosmopolitan Hotel. His new two-story, 20,000-square-foot brick building extended from Main Street to Fourth Street. He leased out the entire upper story to Petaluma’s militia for an armory. The bottom story was occupied by a rotation of grocery, hardware, and appliance stores, many occupying the entire floor extending to the Fourth Street entrance.[5]
Labor Day automobile race outside the McNear Buildings, 1916 (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
In 1911, McNear constructed a new two-story building adjacent to his 1886 building. It included the Mystic Theater operated by his oldest son John Jr., a retired doctor, and his son’s sister-in-law, Lulu Egan. McNear evicted the Armory from his 1886 building and reconfigured the top floor into individual business and medical offices for lease.[6]
From the 1930 to 1942, the first floor of the 1886 building was occupied by Safeway Grocery. After Safeway consolidated into their other store on Western Avenue near Liberty Street, the space was leased to Tibbett’s Appliance.[7]
Tibbett’s gave way in 1953 to Guy Manwaring’s Furniture Store, after his original store, in the adjacent Gervasoni Building, burned down. That building site was converted into a parking lot, made famous in the movie “American Graffiti.”[8]
In 1976, Guy’s Furniture relocated after the two McNear Buildings were purchased by Jeff Harriman and Wally Lourdeaux. After an extensive restoration of both buildings, they rented out the bottom floor of the 1886 building to a series of restaurants, beginning with the Petaluma Café, Cheers, and finally McNear’s Saloon and Dining House, which has occupied the building since 1987.[9]
A lifelong teetotaler, McNear is likely rolling over in his grave at the thought of his name being affixed to a bar in his landmark building.
1886 McNear Building, 2022 (photo public domain)
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] “The Upper Story,” Petaluma Argus, July 3, 1886.
[2] Petaluma Sanborn Maps, 1883 and 1885, Library of Congress; “Improvements,” Petaluma Argus, November 29, 1884.
[3] 1870 U.S. Census; Thomas W. Chinn, A History of Chinese in California (Chinese Historical Society of America, 1969), p. 24; “Gordon C. Phillips, “The Chinese in Sonoma County, California, 1900-1930: The Aftermath of Exclusion,” a master’s thesis, Sonoma State University, 2015; Chinese New Year,” Petaluma Argus, January 20, 1868; “The Chinese Mission School,” Petaluma Courier, May 1, 1899;
[4] “The Boycott,” Petaluma Argus, March 13, 1886; “The Boycott Again,” Petaluma Argus, March 31, 1886;
[5] 1885 Sanborn Map of Petaluma, Library of Congress; Phillips thesis.
[6] “Last Dance in the Armory,” Petaluma Courier, June 14, 1912; “Company K Votes to Vacate Present Armory on First of Next Month,” Petaluma Argus, June 18, 1912.
[7] Ad for Skagg’s Grocery, Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 21, 1928; “Skaggs Now Safeway,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 10, 1930; “Earl Tibbetts To Engage in Business Here,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 14, 1945.
[8] “Fire Destroys Two Stores in Petaluma,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 19, 1952; Ad for Guy’s Furniture, Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 2, 1952; Ad for Tibbett’s Furniture, Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 20, 1953.
[9] Bill Soberanes column, Petaluma Argus-Courier, February 11, 1976; “Another Historic Building Faces Renovation Project,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 30, 1976; “Petaluma Café to Offer Lunch, Late Night Dining,” PAC, January 28, 1978; Bill Soberanes column, Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 22, 1984; “McNear’s: Good food, dancing and fun,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 30, 1987.
A snapshot history of the Steiger Building at 132 Petaluma Blvd. North
Steiger Building, c. 1870s, occupied upstairs by George Ross’ Photographic Gallery, and downstairs to the right by Charles Kubie’s tailor shop, and to the left by Wm. A. Steiger Gunsmithing, 132 Petaluma Blvd. North (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)
The Steiger Building may be the oldest building on Petaluma’s Main Street. Built in 1856 by Capt. Palmer Hewlett, commander of the Petaluma’s early militia, the Petaluma Guards, the two-story brick building was erected on the north side of the town’s first general store, Kent, Smith & Coe, which opened in 1852.[i]
Throughout the 1850s and 1860s, the storefront housed a series of groceries and dry goods, beginning with Elder & Hinman’s Dry Goods.
Elder & Hinman Dry Goods, 1857 (illustration from 1857 map of Petaluma, Sonoma County Library)
The upstairs floor initially served as the Petaluma Reading Room, a literary center where subscribers could read newspapers and journals from around the world, as well as books of philosophy, history, theology, romance, and poetry.[ii]
In 1870, the building became occupied by three tenants who would remain for more than two decades, Scottish photographer George Ross, German gunsmith Wilheim Steiger, and Czech Jewish tailor Charles Kubie. All three had been in business elsewhere on Main Street since the mid-1850s.[iii]
After Wilheim Steiger died in 1878, his son Peter took over the store with his own two sons, Joe and Bill. Rebranded Steiger’s Sporting Emporium, it became a local hub for anglers and hunters, and beginning in 1881, headquarters of the Petaluma’s Sportsman Club, which maintained a rod and gun club and game preserve along the river south of town.
Steiger Building occupied by Petaluma Photo Parlors on second floor and Steiger Sporting Goods Emporium on first floor , c. 1900 (photo Sonoma County Library)
The Steigers purchased the building in 1894, turning their shop into something of a technological innovation center. One of the first telephones used in the city in the late 1870s was developed at Steiger’s, connecting the store with the Steiger family home on Second Street. The store also introduced the first pumpguns and automatic revolvers in town, as well the first Victorola phonograph.[iv]
The young Joe Steiger became a transportation trailblazer, selling the first safety bicycles in town in 1892, the first autos in 1902, and establishing the first auto livery, or taxi service, in 1907. He also began offering Indian Motorcycles at the shop in 1908.[v]
In 1902, the tailor Kubie retired, providing the Steigers with the entire first floor, which they extensively remodeled, exchanging the brick storefront with plate glass windows to display their wares. They also installed an iron front cornice on the front of the building, adding their name at the top. In 1905, the Steigers expanded the back of building by 50 feet to open the city’s first auto repair garage, accessed via Water Street.[vi]
Joe Steiger took over the store after the deaths of his father in 1907 and brother in 1912. He himself died in 1924, along with his best friend, city councilman and contractor Hugh McCargar, while the two were bass fishing aboard a boat that capsized on the Petaluma River.[vii]
Steiger Building, c. 1930, occupied by California Water Services Company on the first floor (photo Sonoma County Library)
In 1928, the Steiger Building became the new local headquarters of the California Water Services Company, which had recently purchased the Petaluma Water and Power Company. After the City of Petaluma purchased the water company in 1959, the storefront was occupied by Century 21’s Petaluma Realty until 1997. The upstairs featured a rotating number of tenants including the Camp Girls Center.[viii]
Steiger Building, 1977, occupied by Century 21-Petaluma Realty on first floor (photo Sonoma County Library)
Since 2007, the storefront has been home to the Riverfront Art Gallery. The upstairs was occupied by Murray Rockowitz Photo Studio for more than 20 years until 2018.[ix]
Steiger Building, 2022, occupied by the Riverfront Art Gallery on the first floor (photo John Sheehy)
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FOOTNOTES:
[i] “Worked on Original Building,” Petaluma Courier, April 15, 1902; “Fire Bell,” Sonoma County Journal, December 25, 1857; “Real Estate Petaluma,” Sonoma County Journal, January 28, 1859; “Death of Major Hewlett,” Petaluma Courier, January 8, 1896; Munro-Fraser, History of Sonoma County (Allen, Bowen & Co, 1880), pp. 260-261.
[ii] “The Work Goes Bravely On,” Sonoma County Journal, February 20, 1857; “Petaluma Reading Rooms,” Sonoma County Journal, January 16, 1857; Ad for Elder & Hinman’s, Sonoma County Journal, March 20, 1857; “Dr. Miles Hinman,” Petaluma Courier, May 25, 1897.
[iii] “Removed,” Petaluma Argus, July 30, 1870; “A Card,” Petaluma Argus, October 15, 1870; “For Rent, Petaluma Argus, August 13, 1870; Munro-Fraser, p. 587; Ad for Steiger’s Gunsmith shop, Petaluma Argus, December 27, 1878 (note: established 1858);“On the Move,” Petaluma Argus, December 3, 1870; “Will Make Improvements,” Petaluma Courier, January 27, 1902; “Charles Kubie Dies at Age of 90 Years,” Petaluma Courier, July 9, 1919; “Remains Removed to the Family Home,” Petaluma Courier, July 9, 1919.
[iv] “Sportsmen’s Club,” Petaluma Courier, June 1, 1881; Petaluma Sportsmen Club,”Petaluma Courier, December 21, 1881; Ad for Victor Talking Machines at Steiger’s,” Petaluma Argus, March 30, 1905, “Mrs. P.J. Steiger Enters Last Rest,” Petaluma Argus, January 27, 1926; “Walter H. Dado Buys The Jos. Steiger Sporting Goods Store on Tuesday,” Petaluma Argus, December 10, 1924;
[v] Ad, Petaluma Courier, January 28, 1892; “The Pesky Thing Would Note Drink,” Petaluma Argus, September 17, 1902; “Two new Automobiles for Petaluma People,” Petaluma Courier, October 31, 1903; “Briefs,” Petaluma Argus, April 23, 1907; “Sold Two Indians,” Petaluma Courier, June 13, 1911.
[vi] “Briefs,” Petaluma Courier, April 12, 1902; “Will Make Improvements,” Petaluma Courier, January 27, 1902; “Briefs,” Petaluma Courier, April 9, 1902; “Steiger’s New Building a Big Improvement,” Petaluma Argus, July 27, 1905.
[vii] “Jos. Steiger and H.S. McCargar Lose Lives,” Petaluma Argus, June 9, 1924.
[viii] “Water Company in New Office,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, February 1, 1928; “City Carries Off Water Finance Deal,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 2, 1959; “Realty Firm Goes to New Quarters,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 5, 1962; “Fictitious Business Name Statement,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, February 3, 1976; “DDT Ban Allows Continuing Bat Problem,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 26,1978; “Century 21 Offices Merge,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, February 21, 1997.
[ix] Ad for Acorn shop, Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 21, 1999; “A Cooperative Gallery, Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 10, 2007; “Revamp for Historic Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 21, 2019.
A snapshot history of the Phoenix Building at 119 Petaluma Blvd. North
Frtisch-Zartman Building, near right, 2002 (photo courtesy Scott Hess)
Buildings may stand as testaments to time, but like clothing and hair styles, they are also prone to makeovers. Such was the case with Main Street’s Fritsch & Zartman Building.
Originally constructed in 1852 by John Fritsch and William Zartman as a one-story blacksmith and wagon-making shop, it became a storefront rental after Fritsch and Zartman moved their shop to Western Avenue in 1861.[i]
For almost 30 years, their two tenants were a dry goods store operated by Thomas Gilbert and a stationary store operated by Philip Cowen. In 1884, Fritsch and Zartman decided to join the Italianate architectural craze sweeping the city, and remodel the building, adding a second story and ornate iron front face.[ii]
Fritsch-Zartman Building, ca. 1900 (Sonoma County Library)
In the late 1890s, Gilbert’s store was replaced by The Racket, a dry goods store owned by Ira and Henry Raymond, and Cowen’s store by Frank Atwater’s Stationary Store. In 1906, Atwater closed his store, and the Raymonds expanded into the other half of the building, renaming the store Raymond Bros.[ii
In 1924, the Raymonds retired, and their sister May assumed half of the storefront to operate a women’s clothing shop called Raymond’s. The other half was occupied by The Leader, a dry good store operated by Mose Goldman. In 1929, Raymond’s Clothing Store moved to Kentucky Street, and Goldman expanded into their half of the building.[iv]
The Leader Department Store in Fritsch-Zartman Building, 1939 (Sonoma County Library)
In 1941, Goldman erected a new building for The Leader at the northwest corner of Western Avenue and Kentucky Street (later occupied by Carithers, and currently the new corporate headquarters of Amy’s Kitchen).[v]
J.C. Penney’s Department Store then moved into the Fritsch & Zartman Building from the Wickersham Building up the street (current site of Seared Restaurant), which they had occupied since 1922. In 1952, looking to modernize the building, Penney’s covered over the building’s Italianate front with a white slipcover.[vi]
J.C. Penney’s Department Store, Fritsch-Zartman Building, 1954 (Sonoma County Library)
In 1976, Penney’s moved to the new Petaluma Plaza shopping center at McDowell and Washington Streets. They were replaced by Marin Outdoors, which occupied the building for 13 years. Since 1998, Sienna Antiques has occupied the building.[vii]
Restoration of Fritsch-Zartman Building, 2008 (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)
In 2006, the building’s owners, working with Heritage Homes of Petaluma, secured a no-interest loan from the city’s historic restoration program to remove J.C. Penney’s slipcover, described by one local preservationist as “a gigantic heater grate.”[viii]
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FOOTNOTES:
[i] “William Zartman Founded Growing Holm Tractor Co.,” Petaluma Argus Courier, August 17, 1955, “Twenty years Ago,” Petaluma Argus, December 3, 1875.
[ii] “Will Build,” Petaluma Argus, March 8, 1884; “The Death of T.A. Gilbert,” Petaluma Argus, April 15, 1919
[iii] “Will Remove,” Petaluma Courier, February 8, 1895; “The Rack to Move,” Petaluma Courier, November 6, 1897; “Frank Atwater passes at Bay City,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 16, 1941; “A New Firm,” Petaluma Courier, January 14, 1899; “Raymond Bros. Have a Big Store Now,” Petaluma Argus, May 23, 1906.
[iv] Ad, Petaluma Courier, April 26, 1923; Ad, Cockburn & Berger, Petaluma Courier, July 8, 1923; “Notice of Dissolution of Partnership,” Petaluma Courier, February 1, 1925; “Will Dispose of Store Here,” Petaluma Argus, February 8, 1924; “Dry Goods Merger By Mose Goldman,” Petaluma Courier, February 14, 1924; “’Raymond’s Will Move to Kentucky Street Store,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 29, 1929; “The Leader in Great Expansion, Leases the Entire Gwinn Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 13, 1929.
[v] “The Leader—Petaluma Congratulates You,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, August 7, 1941.
[vi] “New Home of J.C. Penney Company,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, November 13, 1941; “J.C. Penney Modernizes Local Store,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, August 19, 1952.
[vii] “J.C. Penney Will Move to New Site,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, June 7, 1976; Marin Surplus Moving to Larger Quarters,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 1, 1984; “New Name for Marin Surplus,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 29, 1989; Marin Outdoors Closes Petaluma Store,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 21, 1997; Ad for antique open houses, Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 4,1998
[viii] “Downtown Group Wants to Uncover Ironfront Facing on building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 25, 1995; “Facelift for Downtown Store begins,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 6, 2006.
