Petaluma’s Central Main Street

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)

Author: John Patrick Sheehy

John is a history detective who digs beneath the legends, folklore, and myths to learn what’s either been hidden from the common narrative or else lost to time, in hopes of enlarging the collective understanding of our culture and communities.