Petaluma weighs demolition of houses on historic site

Petaluma planners and historic preservation committee members will consider an application Tuesday night to demolish one of several houses on what may have been the site of the earliest European settlement in Petaluma.|

Petaluma planners and historic preservation committee members will consider an application Tuesday night to demolish one of several houses on what may have been the site of the earliest European settlement in Petaluma.

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Petaluma Cedar Grove Park

The Cedar Grove area is considered the location of perhaps the earliest historical structure in Petaluma, a rustic 1850 hunting camp hut of John Lockwood.

The following year, the first trading post in Petaluma was established on a boat in the Petaluma Creek, next to the camp.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Cedar Grove – a 7-acre parcel off Lakeville Street between the Petaluma River and the railroad tracks – was host to a private city garden, an amusement park, picnic grounds, hotel, bowling alley and more.

There are several structures on the property, including the Bloom-Tunstall house and the remains of what may have been the first hotel in Petaluma. For several years, Holmberg Roofing was located there.

In the past decade, developers have eyed the parcel for potential housing developments.

But access problems have been an obstacle, worsened by recent SMART's plan to close or consolidate private crossings over the tracks. Without that crossing, used by Clover Stornetta Farms to park its truck trailers, the land is inaccessible.

Since the last renters moved out of the Beck House about four years ago, the property has become a homeless and squatters' camp, attractive to criminals, drug users and those wishing to hide from the outside world, Petaluma city official said.

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