Main Street History Snapshots Archives - Page 2 of 2

The American Trust Building

A historical snapshot of 101 Petaluma Boulevard North

*Whitney Building, 1880 (photo Sonoma County Library)*

In 1868, grocer and grain merchant Albion P. Whitney, erected the iron-front, Italianate-style Whitney Building on the northwest corner of Western Avenue and Main Street for his new grocery.[i]

A native of Maine, Whitney first arrived in Petaluma in 1861. In 1864, he was elected to the city’s Board of Trustees (city council), where he served as president (mayor) for three terms, until being elected to the state senate in 1874. After his death in 1884, is son Arthur took over the business, operating it until 1891, when he sold the grocery to a French Jewish merchant named Achille Kahn.[ii]

*Petaluma National Bank, 1903 (photo Sonoma County Library)*

In 1903, Kahn moved his grocery across the street after the Whitney heirs sold the building to the new Petaluma National Bank. In 1923, the bank merged with its affiliate next door, the California Savings Bank, renaming itself the Mercantile Trust.[iii]

*American Trust Bank, 1930 (photo Sonoma County Library)*

In 1928, Mercantile Trust merged with the American Bank, becoming the American Trust Company. The new company tore down the Whitney Building and erected a Neo-Classical Revival building with a terra cotta finish in its place. Designed by San Francisco architects Hyman and Appleton, it expressed the temple-like style popular with bank architecture at the times.[iv]

Wells Fargo Bank, 1975 (photo Sonoma County Library)

In 1960, American Trust merged with Wells Fargo Bank, and continued to occupy the building until 1987, when it took over Crocker Bank at the corner of Western Avenue and Keller Street, and moved to that site to take advantage of its parking lot.[v]

*Vintage Bank, 2022 (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)*

From 1995 to 2022, the American Trust Building was occupied by Vintage Antiques. It is currently undergoing a renovation.[vi]

FOOTNOTES:

[i] “Imposing Front,” Petaluma Argus, August 20, 1868.

[ii] Munro-Fraser, History of Sonoma County (Alley, Bowen & Co., 1880), pp. 602-603; Tom Gregory, History of Sonoma County (Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1911), pp. 283-284; “Municipal Election,” Petaluma Argus, April 21, 1864; “A Valuable Citizen Goes,” Petaluma Argus, February 16, 1884; “Courierlets,” Petaluma Courier, November 2, 1891.

[iii] “Rumored Deal in Progress,” Petaluma Argus, May 28, 1903; “A History of the Petaluma Branch of American Trust Co.,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 20, 1928; “Announcement,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 17, 1927.

[iv] “Announcement,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 17, 1927; “American Trust Co. Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 20, 1928; “100 Anniversary,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 27, 1954; “1926 American Trust Building, http://www.chillybin.com/petaluma/wells.html.

[v] Ad, Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 30, 1960; Ad, Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 18, 1968; “End of an Era for Old Bank,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 30, 1986.

[vi] https://www.vintagebankantiques.net/

The Phoenix Building

A snapshot history of the Phoenix Building at 143-145 Petaluma Blvd. North

In 1855, architect Angus McKay and contractor Heber Gowen erected Petaluma’s first brick, fireproof building, the two-story Gowen Building. It was a welcome innovation at the time, given that the rest of the buildings in town were constructed of wood, and prone to fires.[i]

The Gowen Building stood for only a year before it collapsed in the middle of the night, the result of an excavation being undertaken on the adjacent for a new building being built by McKay and a new physician in town, William Wells.[ii]

Wells and McKay then combined the two lots and constructed a larger, three story brick building—the town’s first skyscraper—in the same style McKay had designed for the Gowen Building. McKay dressed the front wall in freestone from the Roblar Quarry north of town, and covered the roof with asphalt composition, making the building completely fireproof.[iii]

They named it the Phoenix Building (then spelled “Phenix”), in reference to its rising from the ashes.

The four stores initially occupying the bottom floor were S.C. Haydon’s Book Store, Bernhard & Co. Dry Goods, L. Boardman’s Hardware, and S.H. Wagener’s Drug Store. The second floor was occupied by the Metropolitan Billiard Room and handful of professional offices, including that of Dr. Wells. The third floor held three large halls occupied by the Masons, Odd Fellows, and Sons of Temperance.[iv]

*1917 photo of the Phoenix Building (with Coca-Cola sign), built 1856 (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)*

Over the years the Phoenix Building hosted a rotation of clients until 1928, when George P. McNear, the city’s largest property owner, purchased the building and razed it. In its placed he hired architect Walter Singleton, who also built the Petaluma Co-operative Creamery on Western Avenue, to design a modern new building for two specific chain stores: the F.W. Woolworth, the five-and-dime store, and Piggly Wiggly, the first self-service grocery. McNear retained Phoenix as the name of the Building.[v]

*1954 photo of the Phoenix Building (photo Sonoma County Library)*

In 1933, Piggly Wiggly moved out, and Woolworths expanded into the full building. They remained there until 1971, when foot traffic on Petaluma Boulevard began to be drawn away by the new malls opening along the freeway on the rapidly expanding east side of town.[vi]

For the next forty years, the building was occupied by a range of merchants, extending from the Wide World of Shoes, Teddies Discount Party Goods, the Shoe Fair, Chanticleer Antiques, the Pelican Art Gallery, and the Pick of the Litter Thrift Store.

Bliss Bridal & Black Tie has occupied the north end of the building since 2013, and Della Fattoria Bakery the south end since 2016.

*2022 photo of the Phoenix Building (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)*

FOOTNOTES:

[i] “Fall of a Building,” Sonoma County Journal, August 9, 1856

[ii] Adair Heig, History of Petaluma: A California River Town (Scottwall Associates, Petaluma, CA, 1982), pp. 63-64; Ad for William R. Wells physician in Gowan Building before the collapse, Sonoma County Journal, June 21, 1856.

[iii] Heig, 63-64; “Phenix Block,” Sonoma County Journal, July 31, 1857; “Old Business Block,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 9, 1941.

[iv] “Phenix Block,” Sonoma County Journal, July 31, 1857.

[v] “Phoenix Block to Be Razed to Erect Fine New Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, August 23, 1928; “Walter Singleton to Erect McNear Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 10, 1928; “The Woolworth Store Opening,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 30, 1929; Piggly Wiggly Ad, Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 31, 1929.

[vi] “Local News Paragraphs,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 12, 1933; “Local Woolworth Store Will Close,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 3, 1971.

The American Hotel

A snapshot history of 129-133 Petaluma Blvd. North (current day Putnam Plaza)

The American Hotel was one of Petaluma’s first hotels, established in 1852 by Robert Douglass, Jr. Built by an English contractor named Charles Blackburn (the town’s future undertaker), it’s location was initially regarded as “well up town.”^[i]

As the town grew up around it, it came to be the anchor of central Main Street, where it served as a landmark for more than a century, although not always in the same form.

In 1868, a fire burned down Blackburn’s original wood-framed building. In its place, he constructed a three-story fireproof building of brick. Four years later, it’s insides were also consumed by fire. Blackburn’s third and final restoration of the hotel opened in 1874.^[ii]

Designed with a simple Gothic front, its three stories offered 100 rooms, a dining hall that seated 80, a well-stocked bar, a billiards room, a barber shop, and sample rooms where “drummers,” or traveling salesmen, could display their wares. Free shuttled service was provided to the train station and steamer landing.[iii]

*Lobby of the American Hotel, 1912 (photo Sonoma County Library)*

For those traveling by horse or carriage, the American Livery was housed at the back of the hotel, in the basement floor of a building on the other side of American Alley (today’s Big Easy Music Club). A covered passage was provided to protect lady customers from rainy weather while crossing the alley to the hotel.[iv]

*American Hotel undergoing a paint job in 1941 (photo Sonoma County Library)*

Up through the 1940s, the American advertised itself as a first class hotel, with a café, and a small dance hall with live music.[v] It’s two storefronts were occupied by The Tropics, a popular night club, and the Dairy Bar, a café and ice cream parlor.^[vi]

In the 1950s, as the hotel transitioned like other old hotels in town to serving as a residential hotel for low-income tenants, its two storefronts came to be occupied by Lombardi’s Men’s Store and Lucille’s Apparel.^[vii]

*American Hotel, 1951 (photo Sonoma County Library)*

In 1966, the building was condemned by the city of Petaluma as part of its urban renewal initiative, on the grounds that a hairline crack had been discovered on its north wall. A month after the hotel’s demolition, the city expanded its new Golden Concourse through the empty lot, connecting the Keller Street parking lot with Petaluma Boulevard.^[viii]

The lot sat vacant for 20 years until the city decided in 1987 to make it a pocket park in memory of the recently deceased former city mayor, Helen Putnam. Putnam Park was designed by local architect Dick Lieb.[ix]

Putnam Plaza, 2022 (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)

FOOTNOTES:

[i] [1] J.P. Munro Fraser, History of Sonoma County (University of Wisconsin, 1880) pp. 260-263; “Summoned Home,” Petaluma Courier, November 27, 1897; George P. Williams,” Petaluma Courier, October 19, 1899; “A Chapter of Tragedies,” Petaluma Courier, August 21, 1901; Note: Adair Heig’s book, History of Petaluma: A California River Town (Scottwall Associates, 1982), p. 58, cites George B. Williams as the builder of the American Hotel. That is not supported by Munro-Fraser, nor listed in Williams’ obituary nor that of Douglass’ wife.

[ii] “Summoned Home,” Petaluma Courier, November 27, 1897.

[iii] Ad, Petaluma Argus, April 29, 1869; Bill Soberanes, “American Hotel Landmark to Vanish,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 20, 1966.

[iv] Ad for American Livery Stables, Petaluma Courier, February 8, 1888.

[v] Ad, Petaluma Courier, April 29, 1934; “Dancing Hall to be Attraction at American Hotel,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 10, 1934; Ad, Petaluma Argus-Courier, June 14, 1934; Ad, Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 12, 1940.

[vi] “Dairy Bar in Expansion,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, Mary 23, 1944 “Intended Sale of ‘The Tropics’ is Recorded,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, February 21, 1947.

[vii] “Men’s Clothing Store to Open in Hotel,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, February 20, 1948; “Many at Formal Opening of Lucille’s Apparel,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 18, 1951; Bill Soberanes, “American Hotel Landmark to Vanish,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 20, 1966.

[viii] “Council Orders Demolition of American Hotel,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 12, 1966; “Blacktop Strip for Concourse,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 1, 1966.

[ix] “Putnam Plaza Plans,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, June 9, 1987; “Putnam Plaza Complete; Dedication Set,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 23 1987.

Penry Park

A snapshot history of Petaluma’s first park

Penry Park was established as Main Street Plaza in January 1852, when Petaluma’s founder George H. Keller first laid out the town.

Early settlers weren’t pleased however with leaving a fallow piece of land at the heart of town, deriding it as “a waste and a nuisance.” Elected officials left the park barren for decades, with no paths, benches, trees, or water. Overrun by wild chickens, it was sarcastically called “Chicken Hill.”

The city made numerous attempts to convert it into something “useful,” including homes, businesses, a city hall, a courthouse, a high school, and a jail. In 1886, they constructed a stone wall along its eastern edge to end complaints of winter mudslides clogging up Main Street (Petaluma Boulevard North).

*Egg Day Parade float outside Penry Park (Hill Plaza Park), 1920 (photo courtesy of Sonoma County Library)*

In 1896, the Ladies Improvement Club took it upon themselves to landscape the park with trees and paths, renaming it Hill Plaza. They maintained the park until 1911, when the city created a parks commission.

In 1929, a memorial with a cannon was erected in tribute to Petalumans lost in WWI, leading to the nickname “Cannonball Park.” The cannon was melted down for metal during WWII, and replaced by two anti-aircraft guns.

*Penry Park (Hill Plaza Park) with WWI memorial, 1958 (photo courtesy of Sonoma County Library)*

The city council persisted in their efforts to convert the park into something useful, mounting unsuccessful efforts in 1948 and 1960 to turn it into a parking lot.

In 2001, Hill Plaza Park was renamed Penry Park in honor of hometown Medal of Honor winner Richard Penry.

*Penry Park, 2022 (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)*

The Petaluma Incubator Company

A snapshot history of 230-242 Petaluma Blvd. North

Few sites are etched into Petaluma history deeper than the Petaluma Incubator Company, the engine behind the city’s reign as the World’s Egg Basket. Yet, thanks to urban renewal efforts in the 1960s, nothing remains of the building today other than a rock wall lining Brewster’s Beer Garden.

The incubator company had its genesis in 1877, when Isaac Dias, a young Jewish dentist from New Orleans invented an incubator capable of maintaining a steady temperature of 103 degrees, the same as a brooding hen’s body. By accelerating the hatching of newly laid eggs, the incubator freed the hen from her maternal nesting duties, allowing her to lay more.[1]

Dias patented his invention, and was joined in marketing it in 1882 by one of his patients, Lyman Byce, a 26-year-old medical student from Canada, who came to visit a sister in Petaluma, seeking the health benefits of the area’s Mediterranean sea breezes.[2]

*Lyman Byce, circa 1890 (photo Sonoma County Library)*

That same mild climate, along with the valley’s rich, alluvial soil, would set the stage for the chicken mania that followed.

In 1881, Byce—the Steve Jobs to Dias’ Steve Wozniak— joined Dias in forming the Petaluma Incubator Company, soon setting up their factory in a former armory near the Washington Street Bridge.[3]

After Dias’s mysterious death in an 1884 duck hunting accident, Byce employed his marketing talents in taking the Petaluma Incubator Company to new heights. Positioning himself as the “father of chickendome,” he wrote Dias out of the story.[4]

*1890s photo of Petaluma Incubator Factory in the Hopper Building at 230-236 Main Street (photo Sonoma County Library)*

In 1889, Byce moved the incubator factory to the Hopper Building at 230-236 Main Street, beside George P. McNear’s Oriental Mills & Feed Store. After a fire burned down McNear’s building in 1902, Byce purchased the lot at 238-242 Main, and constructed a modern new factory in its place.[5]

*Aftermath of 1902 fire destroying the McNear Oriental Mills and scorching parts of the Petlauma Incubator Company (photo Sonoma County Library)*

*New Petaluma Incubator Factory on former site of McNear’s Oriental Mills, 1912 (photo Sonoma County Library)*

Overexpansion and distressed sales during World War I forced Byce to declare bankruptcy in 1919, and move to a smaller factory on East Washington Street. His former building was converted into a poultry packing plant by the Petaluma Poultry Company.[6]

1948 view of the Petaluma Milling Company, the white building on left (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)

In 1938, the poultry company sold the building to Petaluma Milling Company, a feed and mill store. It operated until 1967, when the city, championing urban renewal, condemned both buildings that had once housed the Petaluma Incubator Company, 230-236 and 238-242, giving the owners the choice of either rehabilitating them or tearing them down. They buildings were demolished in 1968.[7]

*2022 view of Brewster’s Beer Garden (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)*

The lots remained vacant until 2016, when Brewster’s Beer Garden created an open air facility on their ground floor facing Water Street, leaving a hole in the street landscape of Petaluma Boulevard North, a reminder of good intentions gone bad.[8]

******

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Thea Lowry, Empty Shells (Manifold Press, Novato, CA, 2000), p. 33

[2] Lowry, pp. 33-34.

[3] Lowry, p. 33; “Petaluma Incubator,” Petaluma Argus, October 3, 1883; A Gold Medal,” Petaluma Argus, November 22, 1884.

[4] Lowry, pp. 33-37.

[5] Ad, Petaluma Courier, August 25, 1888; “A Happy New Year,” Petaluma Argus, December 28, 1888; “Petaluma Industries,” Petaluma Courier, May 29, 1889; “A Midnight Blaze,” Petaluma Courier, June 11, 1902; “A Business Deal,” Petaluma Courier, August 29, 1902

[6] “Petition in Solvency,” Petaluma Argus, September 23, 1919; “Big Auction Sale Today,” Petaluma Argus, February 3, 1920; “Will Open a Monster Plant,” Petaluma Argus, March 25, 1920.

[7] “Milani Bldg. Bought by L. Hozz,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 20, 1938; “Petaluma Milling Company Closes,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, June 2, 1967; “Council Orders Action,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, November 2, 1967; “City Budget,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 7, 1968.

[8] “Water Street Rising,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 5, 2016.

Petaluma’s Carriage & Car Heritage Site

A snapshot history of 217 Petaluma Blvd North

*1901 photo of Robinson & Farrell Blacksmiths & Wagonmakers, 271 Petaluma Blvd. North (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)*

In Petaluma’s history of moving vehicles, 271 Petaluma Boulevard North is a local heritage site. Located between Martha and Prospect streets just north of Penry Park, people have been making, selling, and repairing wagons, buggies, and automobiles here since 1859, when Simon Conrad opened his blacksmith and carriage maker shop.

A native of Pennsylvania, Conrad not only gained a reputation as one of the finest carriage makers in the state, he also became a city leader, elected to the city’s Board of Trustees (city council), and serving as board president, or mayor. [1]

Upon his death in 1873, a former employee, John Loranger, took over the shop. Loranger’s buggies and blacksmithing won him top prizes at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. In 1879, he rented out to Isaac Dias a second story room in the shop, where he invented and patented a new egg incubator, partnering in 1882 with Lyman Byce to market it, kicking off Petaluma’s egg boom.[2]

After being elected to the city’s Board of Trustees in 1880, Loranger sold his shop to one of his blacksmiths, William F. Farrell and William Robinson. They secured an exclusive franchise to sell Studebaker buggies. Farrell bought out in 1901. Four years later, he replaced Simon Conrad’s original building with building that stands on the site today.[3]

*1906 photo of Farrell Carriages, Buggies & Wagons, 271 Petaluma Blvd. North (photo Petaluma Historical Library & Museum)*

After automobile sales came to Petaluma in 1903, Farrell expanded to selling and repairing them. Like his predecessors, he was a prominent civic leader, serving as fire chief and a member of the board of education. After his death in 1916, his sons Hamilton and William J. Farrell took over the business.[4]

In 1920, they became a dealership for Dodge cars, moving their showroom and auto repair shop next door to the north side of Prospect Street. Will Farrell became a city councilman in 1922, and was elected mayor in 1929. He resigned in 1934 after being accused of covertly profiting from servicing city vehicles at his shop.[5]

*1944 photo of Inwood Auto Parts, 271 Petaluma Blvd. North (photo Sonoma County Library)*

The building at 271 Main was occupied by a rotation of auto-related businesses until 1933, when William Inwood established his tire and auto repair business there. Upon his death in 1948, Jack Dunaway, who joined the firm in high school, assumed management of the shop, purchasing it from Inwood’s widow in 1952.[6]

His son Mike joined him in managing Dunaway Auto Parts in the 1970s, eventually taking over the business. In 1996, the company transitioned to Dunaway Auto Paints, which it remains today.[7]

2022 photo of Dunaway Auto Parts/ Auto Paint, est. 1952, 271 Petaluma Blvd. North (photo courtesy of Scott Hess)

SOURCES:

[1] Sonoma County Journal, July 18, 1862; “Death of Simon Conrad,” Petaluma Argus, April 25, 1873.

[2] “Wagon Making,” Petaluma Argus, May 8, 1873; “John Loranger’s Manufactory,” Petaluma Argus, February 27, 1874; Petaluma Argus, October 15, 1875; Petaluma Argus, October 3, 1879; Ed Mannion’s Rear View Mirror, Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 22, 1960.

[3] “New Firm,” Petaluma Argus, December 9, 1881; “Notice of Dissolution, “Petaluma Courier, November 14, 1901; Carriage Repository,” Petaluma Courier, March 3, 1905; “Briefs,” Petaluma Courier, April 26, 1905.

[4] “W.F. Farrell Dies at His Old Home,” Petaluma Courier, December 19, 1916; “The Whole City Mourns the Death of W.F. Farrell, Petaluma Argus, December 18, 1916; “Notice,” Petaluma Courier, December 24, 1916.

[5] “Farrell Bros. Now Agents for Dodge,” Petaluma Courier, Mary 26, 1920; Moved into New Building,” Petaluma Courier, July 17, 1920; “Certificate of Partnership,” Petaluma Argus, July 30, 1924; “Beautiful New Home of Farrell Bros.,” Petaluma Argus, July 28, 1928; “W. Farrell Councilman,” Petaluma Courier, May 6, 1922; “Mayor Farrell, Four Aides, Quit Office,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, January 27, 1934.

[6] Ads, Petaluma Argus, September 7, 1920, June 16, 1921, 1922 “J.A. Cline, Dealer” selling used cars there; Ad listing, Petaluma Argus, April 24, 1926, June 14, 1927: Inwood & Greene auto repair at 267-271 Main; Ad for Inwood & Flohr, Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 14, 1932: listed at 304 Main Street; “Inwood & Flohr Have Fine New Store,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 20, 1933; “Wim. A. Inwood, Businessman, Dies From Heart Ailment,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 25, 1948; “Jack Dunaway Buys Inwood Auto Parts,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 1, 1952.

[7] Ad, Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 27, 1974; “Petaluma Access,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 8, 1996.