Mattole Valley Historical Society
Take a tour of Petrolia with the interactive map below. Simply click on the number to read more about that area of Petrolia. To return to the map simply click any of the 'top' links at the end of each description.
Come back soon for the Virtual tour of the 'greater' Petrolia area as well as an easy-to-print pamphlet for use on a traditional walking tour of the Petrolia area. Enjoy.
8. Lytel's Mechanical Shop. Cady and Brown hold this spot on an 1874 map. Later on, in the early 20th century, William (Bill) Lytel's shop performed all sorts of wood and iron work here.
9.Corner saloon. Barney McDonough, once also the local sheriff, kept bar here in the 1800s. Ellis Hunter owned it around the turn of the century. Carlo "Peg-Leg" Guglielmina (pronounced "Gullameany") owned it when in burned in 1931; he died of injuries sustained when he reentered the burning building.
10.O'Leary's Blacksmith Shop. Once Patrick O'Leary and several sons, including Hen (Henry), worked and lived on this property, the O'Leary family home. In the 1860s, another blacksmith, David Kenoyer, had owned the place. The house originally had two storeys; Russell Chambers took the top part off.
11.Side trip to the south. Down this dirt road once stood the Walsh house, built in 1885, a substantial two-storey building that became the second major Petrolia Hotel. It was later run by Modest Giacomini, then Jack Wright and Ellis Hunter; Hunter bought it in 1908. It stood until the 1940s.
The Petrolia Pioneer Cemetery sits on a secluded hill at the end of this dirt road. It is well worth a visit. This cemetery was long the only official burial ground in the Petrolia Cemetery District, which was formed in 1955 and covers 172 square miles. The first burial there was of infant Alonzo Conklin, in November of 1857. The last known available plot was used in 1978. A new cemetery west of town, named the Petrolia Table Cemetery, is being developed for area residents as quickly as funding will allow.12.Side trip to the east, the shortcut around the square. Just next to the O'Leary site, on the right side of the road, was the two-storey John Mackey store. In 1865 H.H. Buhne ran a store here; in 1866 L.C. Schmidt purchased it; by 1867 it was bought by Gustav E. Schumacher, the proprietor; from 1873-1876, his brother Emil F. Schumacher owned it. John Mackey, Martin Sanders, and Wm. H. Loheide ran it, and kept the P.O. there, in 1878; by 1886 John A. Mackey built his commodious structure. He held balls in the upstairs room. In 1903, a fire started in this building, destroying it and many other businesses; William Sage was the owner then.
Next to the Mackey store was the Peter Canepa photography studio; this burned on April 19, 1903, also.
A cooper or tinsmith who made tin barrels for the local dairies worked close by the Mackey store.
On the corner below the hill was where Maude Langdon, postmaster from 1919 until 1955, had the Post Office and telephone company. Her father, Charles Goff, had the Petrolia Phone Co. before her. On the east end of the same building was a butcher shop, run by Abraham L. Walker when needed. As there was no refrigeration, meatcutting and wrapping only occurred when fresh meat was available.
On the left is the only home on the square, the present Leonard Cook house. It was built prior to 1888 and was for years the family home of Leonard's grandparents, Ellis and Martha Wright Hunter, then of their daughter, Mayme Hunter Cook.13.Petrolia Hotel. In 1869 Charles A. Doe ran this business; by 1877 a Mr. Stone was erecting a large addition. In 1882 Albert Russ ran the hotel. D.D. Eby, the manager in 1885, added on a large hall. In 1886 Tom Kennedy was the host; in the 1890s Rufus Stevens, a County Supervisor, had the Hotel; and in 1899 Jack Smiley was the landlord. The impressive building burned in the April, 1903, fire.
14.Petrolia Store. John Rudolph ran a store here in the late 1860's; he worked out of a small barnlike structure with his name displayed prominently over the door. By 1881 it had been sold to Chas. Gill and Chas. Long; later that year it was Gill and Hunter; Gill was out of the picture by 1882, when it belonged to Walker S. Hunter. In 1885, Davis and Hart were in business together here.
From 1889 until well into the 20th century, James Hart (also the postmaster) and D.J. Johnson were the owners. At some point around the turn of the century, Hart and Johnson built the large store that stood until it burned in the 1992 earthquake-caused fire; the earlier Rudolph building was demolished in 1948.15.Livery stable/Fire Department. (.5 miles) Ellis Hunter kept horses and tack here early in the century. After the old wooden building was demolished, Albert Lockwood ran a repair shop and service station on the spot. Arnold Rohm ran it after Darky (Albert) sold it. In 1951 or '52 the Petrolia Volunteer Fire Dept. was established and housed its fire engines here until after the earth-quake of 1992, when the wooden building was replaced by the present metal structure.
16.Knights of Pythias/Mattole Lumber Co. Store. The K of P hall was built before 1885. It operated on the second floor, where dances and parties were also held. Downstairs, there was a tin and hardware store in 1885. The Mattole Lumber Company had a store there by the 1910s; they were "Dealers in Lumber, Tan Bark, and General Merchandise." The store was often called Johnson's Store, as Tommy "Few-Hairs" or "Two-Hairs" Johnson, married to MLC owner Calvin Stewart's daughter Lavinna, ran it. The building was torn down in 1948.
Between the Petrolia Hotel and the Knights of Pythias, on the square, Henry O'Leary had a barn and holding pens or corrals.17.Etter house. Jack Wright and his brother, Morty, built this house in 1915. Dick Adams and Kate Hunter lived there for a while, as did Mary Etter (niece of the builders); her daughter Helen now owns it.
18.Side trip to the north, up Sherman St. On the northwest corner of this block was the first Grange hall in the Mattole Valley. The Grange was formed in 1874 and disbanded in 1881. A man named Levy had previously owned the property.
19.Elias and Lucy Wright Hunter home. This is one of the oldest houses standing in Petrolia, or at least the original rear section of it is. Elias Hunter died in 1923, but the well-loved "Aunt Lucy" lived until 1951.
20.Ann Hunter home. Elias Hunter's sister, Ann Hunter Watson, lived in this old house. It's now K.C. Groeling's place.
21.Side trip up Lincoln St. The stucco house on the right was built by Jack Wright and was known as the Crippen place.
At the end of the block is the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. It was built in 1913-15 for the Methodist Episcopalians by Jack Wright, Jim Lawson, and others. In the 1920s, Martha Hunter, Addie Clark, and Minnie Wright bought it for the Seventh-Dayers. It had been called the Community Church before it was Methodist, and had been a United Brethren church site since the 1860s. The church still uses the original pump organ and pulpit from the Methodist church.22.Old Post Office. (.6 miles) In the 1960s, Alice Rohm had the post office here. She became the postmaster in 1955.
23.St. Patrick's Catholic Church. The framing lumber for this church came from Sam T. Kelsey's mill in Union Mattole. Scott and Stone of Ferndale were the contractors; Eddie Crop, Charlie Peterson, and Clark Rackliff helped build it. In April, 1912, work began. The land was donated by the Domingo Zanone family and the building was funded by the family of Patrick Mackey, who erected it in his honor.
In March of 1958, lightning struck the steeple and burned a good part of the the front section (blew the front of the church clear off, says Jim Cook); it was rapidly rebuilt.
Mail: PO Box 144, Petrolia, California
95558. Phone: 707.629.3684.
Email: mattolehistory@asis.com