[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 53 (Friday, April 4, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING THE CITY OF PETALUMA ON ITS SESQUICENTENNIAL

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                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 4, 2008

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I rise with particular pleasure today to 
honor the sesquicentennial of my hometown of Petaluma, California, 
which has not only a special place in my heart, but a unique place in 
history over the past 150 years.
  My political career began in Petaluma when I was elected to the city 
council. I raised my four children in this picturesque town with its 
lovely rural surroundings, and now they are raising their children 
here. It is a warm and friendly place to call home, and despite its 
growing population, people still walk down the streets and smile and 
wave and greet each other by first name.
  Petaluma's recent history evolved from its position at the head of a 
tidal estuary. This location made it a natural shipping center for 
moving goods from fertile Sonoma County down to San Francisco in the 
years before the Golden Gate Bridge was built. Consequently, it 
prospered through the 19th century. But what put Petaluma on the map 
and made it famous in the early 20th century was the 1875 invention of 
the chick incubator by local farmers, Isaac Dias and Lyman Byce.
  According to local historian and former newspaper editor Katie Watts, 
the incubator and Petaluma's mild climate made it a natural spot for 
raising chickens. On the advice of a public relations whiz, Bert 
Kerrigan, town leaders capitalized on this speciality, dubbing Petaluma 
``The World's Egg Basket.''
  What's more, in 1918, Kerrigan prevailed on Congress to create a 
National Egg Day, August 13, 1918, with Petaluma as the epicenter.
  Everything became related to eggs--instead of receiving the keys to 
the city, esteemed visitors were inaugurated into the Order of the 
Cluck Clucks and given a bouquet, not of flowers, but of dressed 
chickens. The town colors were even yellow and white. And while parades 
in other cities featured floats carrying a contingent of young ladies 
in prom dresses, in Petaluma, they wore chicken costumes and handed out 
eggs.
  The scheme worked and Petaluma became the wealthiest city of its size 
in the country.
  ``Civic pride was enormous,'' Watts says. ``Showplace homes were 
built, many of which are still standing.''
  The egg business slowly faded in the 1930s and 40s, and after 
waterway shipping was replaced by truck transport, Petaluma drifted 
into a sleepy decline. Watts explains that ``Attempts to modernize in 
the 1950s and 60s were mostly short-circuited by the fact the city 
determined not to tear down fine old buildings and replace them with 
parking lots and corrugated plastic.''
  Although chickens gave way to the cows and sheep that now dot the 
green hills around the city, Petaluma remains connected to its rural 
heritage by supporting a growing farmstead cheese industry.
  But Petaluma is also firmly in the 21st century. Having been at the 
heart of Telecom Valley during the dotcom boom, it attracted tech and 
bio-tech companies, with many continuing to move here, drawn by the 
fertile business climate.
  Petaluma's civic pride extends to the care of its citizens--there is 
a model homeless shelter and a noted housing program for the 
economically disadvantaged. Current environmental policies reflect the 
city's pioneering work in the first slow-growth ordinances in the U.S. 
Protecting the environment remains a priority for Petalumans. For 
example, in 1983, students from Petaluma's Casa Grande High School 
founded United Anglers with the mission of bringing Adobe Creek back to 
life. Since then, they have raised more than half a million dollars and 
built a state-of-the-art fish hatchery, the only one nationwide on a 
high school campus. Their program has served as a worldwide model for 
ecology and watershed reclamation.
  Madam Speaker, I am proud to represent the people of Petaluma, and I 
ask that you join me in congratulating them on their accomplishments of 
the past 150 years and wishing them the best for the future.

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