Category: Video Presentations

Sonoma Mountain Feuds

A Video Presentation on the Historical Prequel to the Lafferty Ranch Battle

For nearly the past 200 years, since European contact, neighbors on Sonoma Mountain have battled each other in the courts over legal challenges to deeds, property boundaries, water rights, livestock, and trespassing. Occasionally, those quarrels battles have lead to physical threats and altercations.

No feud has been as long standing as the one being still be waged over public access to Lafferty Ranch, which has been owned by the City of Petaluma since 1959 as part of the city’s water works. In 1992, the the city announced plans make Lafferty into a public park, kicking off the series of lawsuits filed by neighbors over the past three decades.

While feuds may appear to come with the territory, it wasn’t always like that. It arrived with the European and American settlers, and their self-centered entitlement of “I have rights.”

Chenault Way Named for Henry Chenault

Chenault Way where Western Avenue meets Petaluma Boulevard (photo John Sheehy)

Petaluma’s beloved “sidewalk philosopher” and iconic shoeshine entrepreneur Henry Chenault was honored on September 17, 2025, in a ceremony remaining the former alleyway where Western Avenue meets Petaluma Boulevard as “Chenault Way,” not far from where he operated his shoeshine stand.

A bronze plaque recognizing Chenault for his contributions to Petaluma for more than 30 years, was also installed on Chenault Way, the first street in Petaluma to be named after a Black resident.

Plaque below Chenault Way street sign (photo John Sheehy)

Brief remarks were offered by Faith Ross, Bill Fishman, John Sheehy, and Chenault’s niece Barbara Clark.

Faith Ross, Bill Fishman, and Barbara Clark with Chenault’s original street sign, at the ceremony (photos courtesy of Connie Williams)

The ceremony was attended by the city mayor and city council members, as well as city officials. The proposal to rename the street in honor of Chenault was spearheaded by Carol Eber.

John Sheehy’s remarks can be viewed here:

Video of remarks at dedication by John Sheehy (video courtesy of Connie Williams)

Henry Chenault

PETALUMA BUSINESSMAN, CIVIC BOOSTER, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Henry Chenault ran the local shoeshine stand in downtown Petaluma from the 1930s through the 1960s. Thanks to his friendly, engaging charm, his sidewalk stand quickly became a popular local crossroads for a wide range of discussions and camaraderie.

In this video presentation, Petaluma historian John Sheehy remembers many of those days and shares Henry’s history alongside many stories that highlight his influence on Petaluma. He also shares the history Henry kept to himself of his involvement as a Buffalo Soldier in the 1917 Houston uprising, one of the worse examples of racial injustice in U.S. military history, and how he channeled that experience into civil rights activism in Petaluma.

Petaluma’s Real Main Street Video Presentation, Part II

In Part II of this video presentation sponsored by the Petaluma Historical Museum and the Sonoma County Library, historian John Sheehy explores how a diverse community of Irish, Black, and German merchants in the 19th century made Petaluma’s Main Street such a bustling melting pot.

Real Main Street Video Presentation, Part I

Part I of this video presentation series explores Petaluma’s early Jewish, Chinese, and Swiss Italian communities.

Petaluma’s Real Main Street Video Presentation, Part I

In this video presentation sponsored by the Petaluma Historical Museum and the Sonoma County Library, historian John Sheehy explores how a diverse community of Jewish, Chinese, and Swiss Italian immigrant merchants made Petaluma’s Main Street such a bustling melting pot in the 19th century.

Real Main Street Video Presentation, Part II

Part II of the series explores the early Irish, Black, and German communities.

Women Suffrage and Prohibition Video Presentation

Viewed by many at the time as the “sex-crazed kid sister of the suffragist,” a new generation of young women—recently empowered by the right to vote thanks to ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920—were inspired during Prohibition to toss off their corsets, bob their hair, shorten their shirts, and bucking all conventions of “acceptable” Victorian behavior, energetically push against the barriers of economic, political, and sexual freedom for women.

They are now considered the first generation of truly independent American women, thanks in large part to the unusual convergence of suffrage and Prohibition.

In this video presentation sponsored by the Petaluma Historical Museum and Petaluma History Room, historian John Sheehy explores how this unexpected turn of events came about in Petaluma.

Helen Putnam Video Presentation

The Birth of Petaluma’s Slow Growth Movement

Up until 1970, the idea of citizens having a say in shaping the future of their city was largely unthinkable. In towns like Petaluma, outside developers were in the driver’s seat, and used their financial muscle to squelch anyone who got in their way.

But Petaluma, led by its first woman mayor, Helen Putnam, did just that, shutting down all new construction to spend a year engaging citizens in hammering out a new planning policy to curb the helter-skelter urban sprawl.
It was revolutionary, and produced a landmark plan that limited new homes to 500 units per year and created a greenbelt around the city to help maintain its integrity and character. It also led to a colossal three-year battle with developers in the courts that advanced all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, establishing a precedent for communities across the country struggling with similar growth pressures.

In this video presentation sponsored by the Petaluma History Room and the AAUW, historian John Sheehy looks back at the lessons of Petaluma’s historical 1970s planning process that changed not only how we think about urban development today, but served to demonstrate that nothing gives people a stronger sense of belonging than the opportunity to shape the community where they live.