In 1852, two brothers from Germany, Herman and John Schierhold, purchased a lot at the southwest corner of Main Street and today’s Western Avenue. Using timber they hauled down from Freestone, they built a two-story hotel. A classic German “gasthaus,” it included a bar and billiards room on the bottom floor, with six rooms upstairs for boarders and guests upstairs.[1]
The Schierholds’ gasthaus became an anchor for Petaluma’s growing German merchant district. By the mid-1870s German-owned businesses extended along the west side of lower Main Street from Western Avenue to Center Park (today’s Historic Chinatown Park).
They included Heinrich Matthies’ Continental Hotel and John Pfau’s Centennial Building (today’s Land Mart), which featured a German saloon, a livery stable, Heinrich Dortmund’s Wine Depot, and the German Druids Hall.
Two blocks away on Fourth Street between B and C streets sat Turn Verein, or Turner Hall, which served as a German social club, hosting lectures, social events, dances, festivals, and musical performances.[1a]
In 1855, the Schierholds sold their gasthaus to a woman named Rosanna Loftus who renamed it the Farmers’ Hotel. A married woman, Loftus purchased the hotel as a “sole trader,” which meant she was legally able to own and operate her own business independent of her husband.[2]
Herman Schierhold went on to operate the Relief Saloon and the Capitol Saloon in town, as well as the Petaluma Brewery. The first brewery in Sonoma County, it was originally founded in 1855 by a fellow German immigrant, Fredrick Christlich.[3]
In 1858, a German named August Starke purchased the Farmers’ Hotel from Loftus, renaming it the Union Hotel & Saloon.[4] In 1866, he leased out operation of the hotel and saloon to Heinrich Matthies, who added “Deutsche Gasthaus” to the name Union Hotel.[5]
In 1876, Petaluma’s leading capitalist John McNear purchased the hotel building and property from Starke’s widow, Frances.[6]
In 1881, McNear sold the Union Hotel building to fellow capitalist Isaac Wickersham, who moved it to property he owned at the southeastern corner of Main and B streets. That cleared the way for construction of the Masonic Lodge at the hotel’s original site on the corner of Main and Western Avenue.
Meanwhile, Wickersham undertook a complete rebuilding of the hotel in its new location, adding 17 new rooms.[7]
In 1889, the description “Deutsche Gasthaus” was dropped from ads for the Union Hotel by longtime operator Samuel Carstens, a Danish immigrant A German named John Hermer ran the Union Beer Hall in the hotel.[8]
In 1900, a fire, suspected to be arson, badly damaged the hotel, destroying its bar and bowling alley. By that time, the hotel was owned by G.P. McNear, who leased it to Claus Struve, a German immigrant, and Jimmie Rasmussen, a Danish immigrant.[9] The hotel was restored and reopened.
In 1902, G.P. McNear’s Oriental Mills & Feed headquarters on Main Street across from Penry Park (then Hill Plaza) burned down. McNear decided to relocate his operation to the site of the Union Hotel, which sat in front of one of his grain mills (today’s Great Petaluma Mill).
He announced plans to move the Union Hotel to Third streets and C streets so that he could clear the site for his new building. A few months later, he changed his mind, and decided to tear the hotel down instead.[10]
So ended the legacy of a 50-year old Petaluma landmark building.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “Local News As Condensed,” Petaluma Argus, October 3, 1902; “Built the Union Hotel,” Petaluma Courier, October 3, 1902; Note: no mention of the name of the Schierholds’ hotel found.
[1a] “Cosmopolitan Hotel,” Petaluma Argus, August 25, 1876; “Pfau’s Centennial Building,” Petaluma Argus, March 3, 1876; “Centennial Headquarters,” Petaluma Argus, July 14, 1876; “The Druids,” Petaluma Courier, December 22, 1880; “Turners’ Ball,” Petaluma Argus, January 1, 1875.
[2] Legal Sole Trader Notice, Petaluma Journal, September 22, 1855; Ad for Farmer’s Hotel, Petaluma Journal, November 20, 1855; Note: not clear if Schierholds were the owners at time of sale to Loftus.
[3] “Courierlets,” Petaluma Courier, October 22, 1884; “H. Schierhold Died Weeks Ago,” Petaluma Argus, December 22, 1905; “Petaluma Breweries,” Petaluma Argus, December 8, 1876; Note: Christlich launched the brewery with a partner named Erbe, who by 1860 had sold out his interest to Christian Theilman, who died in 1864.
[4] Ad, Sonoma County Journal, February 12, 1858: Starke converts Farmer’s Hotel to Lager Beer Saloon; “Brutal,” Sonoma County Journal, February 11, 1859: Starke’s establishment now referred to as the “Union Billiard Saloon”; Ad for Union Hotel, Sonoma County Journal, October 12, 1860.
[5] Ad for Union Hotel, Petaluma Argus, September 6, 1866. Note: by the 1870s, Matthies was also operating the Continental Hotel (“Cosmopolitan Hotel,” Petaluma Argus, August 25, 1876).
[6] “Brevities,” Petaluma Argus, October 20, 1876; “Real Estate Transactions,” Petaluma Argus, November 3, 1876.
[7] “City Improvements,” Petaluma Courier, June 1, 1881; “Housewarming,” Petaluma Argus, August 19, 1881; “Reopened,” Petaluma Courier, August 31, 1881; Ad for Union Hotel, Petaluma Argus, September 30, 1881.
[8] Last ad for Union Hotel including “Deutsche Gasthaus,” Petaluma Courier, January 30, 1889; Ad for Union Beer Hall, Petaluma Courier, May 24, 1892; “John Hirmer Dead,” Petaluma Courier, May 31, 1894.
[9] “The Union Hotel Badly Wrecked,” Petaluma Argus, July 9, 1900.
[10] “A Midnight Blaze,” Petaluma Courier, June 11, 1902; “Union Hotel to Be Moved to Third and C Streets,” Petaluma Argus, August 15, 1902; “Local News As Condensed,” Petaluma Argus, October 3, 1902.
