Penngrove is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California, United States, situated between the cities of Petaluma and Cotati, at the foot of the western flank of Sonoma Mountain. It is part of the North Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 2,522 at the 2010 census. The area is the site of a historic grove called Penn's Grove; it was formerly a freight station on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad and a center of egg and chicken farming. [1]
Penngrove's downtown consists of Main Street, a 0.3-mile (0.48 km) street linking Old Redwood Highway to Adobe Road. Penngrove School is located at the corner of Adobe Road, where Main Street becomes Petaluma Hill Road. Lichau Creek flows southward through the town, paralleling the railway. The creek feeds into the Petaluma River, which flows to San Pablo Bay. Due to the Sonoma Mountain's ancient volcanism, Penngrove is rich with obsidian and petrified wood. Its soil is unique, composed mainly of clay-like adobe, which has been used for centuries as building material. A prime example of adobe architecture is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a State Historic Park in nearby Petaluma. [1]
Gedcom Index for Penngrove, CA. . . . Link
Surnames: Sorensen
GenealogyOnline: About
the Town Penngrove .
. . Link
Surnames: Clark, Geraldi, Maass, Mulliner, Radich
Roadside Thoughts: Penngrove
California . . . Link
Sonoma County Genealogical Society . . . Link
The web site "The Cockrill Family of Sonoma County" [Link] has a wonderful collection of
local genealogy including the following with ties to this
town: David Amos,
Helen Cockrill, Lewis William CANNON, Willliam 'Bill'
Hopp,
The Mexican government granted Rancho Cotate to Captain Juan Castaneda in July 1844 for his military services in the region. The grant encompassed present-day Penngrove, Cotati and Rohnert Park. Cotate Rancho is a part of Vallejo Township which encompasses the plain between Sonoma Mountain and Petaluma Creek, San Pablo Bay, with an east–west line dividing the tract from Santa Rosa Township. Rancho Cotate was sold in 1849 to Dr. Thomas S. Page of Cotati, and eventually broken up and sold off piecemeal to incoming settlers. The first European settlers in the Penngrove area were David Wharff, W.J. Hardin, and J.M. Palmer, who arrived in 1852. [1]
In
October 1870, the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad
completed the first railroad from Petaluma to Santa Rosa,
running through Penngrove. [1]
The naming of Penngrove is uncertain; there are three main "histories" of the name's origin. Ruth Anderson, the famous "Bell-Lady" of Penngrove (who lived on the site of the old schoolhouse on Oak Street), recalls, "In the late 1860s, two brothers by the name of Penn came out from Pennsylvania and bought 80 acres (320,000 m2) of land in this area. They planted the area with olive trees, but when the trees matured it was found that the olives were not edible. The Penn brothers tore out many of the groves, sold the land and moved away. However, while they were here, they named their place Penn's Grove. Later it was changed to "Penn Grove," and still later, because our mail got confused with that of Pine Grove (the former name of Sebastopol), the U.S. Postoffice Department changed the name to one word—Penngrove." (Harris 1980) [1]
Other accounts state that because there was another town with the name of Penn's Grove in New Jersey, this could be a reason as to why the post office changed the name. Others claim that the Woodward family, who came from Pennsylvania, named their property Penn's Grove in honor of their home state. [1]
Along with the chicken and egg industry, Penngrove was a source of basalt paving stones, which were used to pave the streets of major cities in the Bay Area, including San Francisco. Harris notes that 200 men were employed at the three major cobblestone quarries at the end of the 19th century, and that quarry scars can still be seen dotting the hills between East Railroad Avenue and Roberts Road. When the Northwestern Pacific Railroad was completed in 1870, the paving stone industry kept Penngrove station busy. After the turn of the century, Penngrove became the "second largest egg and poultry producing area in the country. Only Petaluma outdid this area" (Harris 1980). Apparently, according to The San Francisco Examiner, chickens paid better than gold mines. To this day, many dilapidated chicken houses dot old farms and country roads in the area. [1]
American Towns . . . Link
Penngrove Cares . . . Link
Penngrove Historical Marker [The Historical Marker Database]. . . Link
Penngrove Historical Society . . . Link
Penngrove Today [Niche] (has a map of location) . . . Link
Penngrove Way Back When [Article, The Press Democrat] . . . Link
Penngrove Wikipedia Page . . . Link
Petaluma Historian: Penngrove History [Blog] . . . Link
1) Yoneda and the "Red Angel": The Love Story of Two Penngrove Social Justice Activists
2) A Wronged Woman’s Rights: The Groundbreaking Trial of Penngrove’s Mary Ann Kenney
3) Penngrove’s Harum Scarum Argonaut: David Wharff’s Gold Rush Odyssey
Sonoma County Life Opens Up: Penngrove . . . Link
WikiVoyage: Petaluma (includes Penngrove) . . . Link . . . Link
Wikiwand: Penngrove . . . Link
Check Sonoma Historian (SCHS) for articles about the towns. . . . Link
Bank Building . . . Link
"The Bank Building was built in 1922 for the Central Commercial and Savings Bank. The bank lasted only 2 or 3 years. The bank manager and his family lived upstairs" (Harris 1980: 48). [1]
Elaine Black Yoneda . . . Petaluma Historian: Penngrove History [Blog] . . . Link
Wife of Karl Yoneda (See Below).
Evart Produce Company . . . Circa 1900-1902 . . . Image
Fire Department . . . Link . . . Image 1958 . . . Fire Engine 1949
At the turn of the century, three fire chemical carts served as Penngrove's fire protection. The foundation of Firehouse #1 can be found between Penngrove Church and the Old Eagle School lot on Oak Street. "The fire department was established in the fall of 1928. In 1929 the first fire engine was put into service" (Harris 1980). In 1938, the art deco fire house was built on Woodward Avenue, just above Main Street. This structure still bears the title "Penngrove Firehouse." It is a now a private residence. In 1975, the current firehouse was built at the corner of Old Redwood Highway and Main Street, the unofficial entrance to Penngrove. Until the 1990s, a siren placed at the top of the building would sound in order to alert volunteer firefighters of a fire. The siren had a greater than 1.5-mile (2.4 km) radius and could be heard frequently through the hot, dry summer months. This system was replaced by pagers in the 1990s, although the siren remains perched on top of the firehouse. Currently, the Penngrove Firehouse is part of the Rancho Adobe Fire District, along with Cotati and other surrounding communities. [1]
Green Mill Inn & Bar Circa 1955. . . Image
Penngrove’s Green Mill Inn once served Roosevelt, Nixon . . . Article
Karl Yoneda . . . Petaluma Historian: Penngrove History [Blog] . . . Link
A longtime political activist, he was used to living under surveillance, including during his military service in World War II, for which he was awarded a Gold Star. Idealistic and headstrong, Karl organized his first strike while still in high school, staging a walkout of Hiroshima’s newspaper delivery boys over low pay. At 16, he made his way to Beijing, where he studied for two months with the blind Ukrainian anarchist and Esperanto teacher, Vasili Eroshenko. In the fall of 1934, Karl made California history as the first Japanese American to campaign for the state Assembly, running unsuccessfully on a platform of racial equality, unemployment insurance, and a living wage. Shortly before election day, the Red Squad arrested him during a campaign speech, charging him with vagrancy and making sure the newspapers highlighted his immoral living arrangement with the Tiger Woman. At the war’s end, Karl reunited with Elaine and Tommy, and returned briefly to working on the San Francisco docks before a health issue put him out of work. A group of Jewish chicken ranchers in Petaluma, who knew Karl and Elaine from their socialist circles, urged them to try raising poultry. With financial help from Elaine’s family and a GI loan, the couple were able to buy a six-acre ranch on the Petaluma Hill Road in Penngrove. Elaine’s parents soon joined them from Los Angeles. [So much more please read the Blog article!]
Lydia Goodwin . . . Link
. . . Lydia was married to a man named James who was a gentleman farmer and that the couple split their time between San Francisco and Penngrove. I believe it was while researching James Goodwin that I came across my first instance of finding a person living in two different locations in the same census year. . . a bit more information by stating that Mrs. Lydia W. Goodwin, the wife of J.P. Goodwin, died at her country home at Penngrove at the age of 79 years. Her maiden name was Keller and she came from an eminent American family (San Francisco Call, June 17, 1896). [See Link]
Penngrove Community Church . . . Link
One of the oldest buildings in Penngrove, the old Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1898 at the corner of Formschlag Lane and Petaluma Hill Road. In 1910, the church was moved on wooden rollers to its present location at 9970 Oak Street. The original building now serves as a fellowship hall, while a newer structure, built in 1955–7, now serves as the main sanctuary. The original structure is still used by Girl Scouts of the USA, Boy Scouts of America, 4-H, and various other community organizations. [1]
Penngrove Community Club House . . . Link . . . Article 100 Years . . .
"During World War I, a group of Penngrove ladies met in Evart's Hall to do Red Cross work. After the war they decided they wanted to stay together as a group and have a club house of their own" (Harris 1980: 33). In 1922, after raising funds and materials, Penngrove came together to build the Community Club House. The total cost was $9,000. The building was first named the "Penngrove Social Welfare Club House", but was later shortened to Penngrove Women's Club House. After a fire destroyed portions of the building in the late 1970s and the Women's Club could no longer afford the upkeep, the Penngrove Social Firemen bought the building. It is now used for various community events, such as voting and fundraisers. [1]
The Penngrove Hatchery . . . Link
Although the Penngrove Hatchery was established in 1919, the present building was not constructed until 1927 when McCarter purchased what was then a portion of the Rancho Cotati Subdivision No. 1 from Thomas and Hedvig Hedin. Its location along a major highway made it convenient to truck in eggs and ship out chicks.
Penngrove Rail Station . . . Link . . . Image Abt. 1886 . . .
The Penngrove
Rail Station burned to the ground in 1980, and
nothing of it survives. The poultry loading docks still
exist behind Penngrove Market, adjacent to Penngrove Park,
and now house businesses.
[1]
Penngrove School . . . Link . . . Image 1890 . . . Eagle School 1910 . . . Eagle School
The first classes were taught in a small building on Peters' Ranch (Harris 1980: 33). In 1876, the first school was built at the southwest corner of Adobe Road and Main Street. It was named the Eagle School after the Eagle Hotel located across Main Street and shown on Thompson's map of Sonoma County (1877). In 1906 after construction of the second Eagle School, the old school was used as a teacher's residence. It was later moved about 50 ft (15 m) south to its current location and reconfigured into an ell. The second Eagle School was built between Main and Oak streets. The original structure no longer exists, and a private home now stands on that property, however, the steps leading to "Eagle School" from Main Street are still visible. Some of building materials were recycled for construction of the Community Center and a small building in Penngrove Park. In 1926 a beautiful mission-style school house was built and named Penngrove School, Eagle District. Penngrove School joined the Petaluma City School District in 1962. In 1963, the present multi-purpose room was constructed and newer wings were developed between it and the older portion of the school. The multi-purpose room was expanded with a stage in 2006. The 1926 school building is now primarily used for offices and the school library. [1]
Penngrove Social Firemen . . . Link
The Penngrove Volunteer Fire Department [baseball team] members formed a team as they had prior to the WW II. The big hurdle, where to play? The team played at Penngrove School but the field was too small and designed for children which made it hard for teams to play regulation hardball. The volunteer firemen looked at the Purrington property (now the park) to purchase for a ball field and park. The volunteers eager to have a new ball field combined with a park for community formed an auxiliary organization and named it Penngrove Social Firemen. They jumped on the opportunity to buy the property from the Purringtons. They held auctions that sold used donated farm equipment and other items of value. This new organization, Penngrove Social Firemen, had proved itself as an able body, self supporting organization.
Post Office . . . Link . . . Image 1983 . . . Martha Teach Rayner, Postmistress 1919
"The Post Office at Penn's Grove was established on October 30, 1882. A series of name changes occurred because of mail mix-ups with Penn's Grove, New Jersey and Pine Grove (later renamed Sebastopol). In May 1895 the Petaluma paper reported: 'The Penngrove Post Office has had its name changed again and is now officially known by its former and best known title, Penn's Grove.' In 1908 the name was changed back to Penngrove and has remained so since" (Harris 1980). The first Post Office was located in the Edwards Building and was then moved into the Terribilini Building on the East side of Main Street. It was then moved next to Penngrove Market and a new structure for the Post Office was built in the 1980s on Main Street across from Penngrove Market. [1]
Maps
Map of Penngrove, with boundaries [BingMaps] . . . Link
Map of Penngrove [MapQuest] . . . Link
Sonoma County Library Photos of Penngrove . . . Link
[1] Wikipedia contributors. "Penngrove, California." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 Nov. 2022. Web. Viewed on 9 Jan. 2023 . . . Link
[2] "Historical and Descriptive Sketch Book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino: Comprising Sketches of Their Topography, Productions, History, Scenery, and Peculiar Attractions", C.A. Menefee, 1873 . . . Link
[3] "Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California" Robert Allan Thompson. L.H. Everts, 1877 - Sonoma County (Calif.) - 104 pages. [ ??? pp 100-101] . . . Link
[4] "History of Sonoma County: Including Its Geology, Topography, Mountains, Valleys and Streams ...."' United States, Higginson Book Company, 1880. (page ???.) . . . Link . . . Text at CAGenWeb
[5] "An Illustrated History of
Sonoma County, California: Containing a History of the
County of Sonoma from the Earliest Period of Its
Occupancy to the Present Time", Lewis
Publishing, 1889
. . . Link
[6] DeClercq, John H. (1977). History of Rohnert Park "from seed to city". Rohnert Park, California: Rohnert Park, Calif. : City Council. Retrieved October 29, 2020 – via Gaye LeBaron Collection.
[7]
Harris, Ellen M. (January
1, 1980). Penngrove:
A Jigsaw Puzzle of Its Past and Present.
Penngrove, California.