[11] The village of Péta Lúuma (Coast Miwok for "backside of the hill", or "sloping ridge") was east of the Petaluma River,[11] with a number of other Coast Miwok villages nearby: Wotoki was immediately to the south of Péta Lúuma, on the opposite side of the river; Etem, Likatiut, and Tuchayalin were near today's downtown; and Tulme and Susuli were just north of today's city limits.

Pioneers moved to Petaluma from the eastern United States after James Marshall found gold in the Sierra Nevada in 1848.

The town's position on the Petaluma River in the heart of productive farmland was critical to its growth during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Sailing scows, such as the scow schooner Alma (1892), and steamers plied the river between Petaluma and San Francisco, carrying agricultural produce and raw materials to the burgeoning city of San Francisco during the California Gold Rush.

[15] Petaluma soon became known for its grain milling and chicken processing industries, which continue to the present day as a smaller fraction of its commerce.

[16] Petaluma hosted the only known poultry drugstore and is the place where the coal lamp egg incubator was invented by Lyman Byce in 1879.

[17] As one of the few communities in the region left standing after the earthquake, Petaluma was the staging point for most Sonoma County rescue and relief efforts.

[17] The downtown area has suffered many river floods over the years[citation needed] and during the Depression commerce declined.

The community became active in the poultry industry, and some settlers joined the local labor movement and participated in leftist political organizing, leading to significant conflicts between integrationists who aimed to quietly integrate into Petaluma society and socialists who hoped to change it.

[20] At the same time Petaluma created a redbelt around the town as a boundary for urban expansion for a stated number of years.

Similar to Ramapo, New York, a Residential Development Control System was created to distribute the building permits based on a point system conforming to the city's general plan to provide for low and moderate income housing and divide development somewhat equally between east and west and single family and multi-family housing.

The stated objectives of Petaluma's time controlled growth management were to ensure orderly growth; to protect the city's small town character and surrounding green space; to provide a variety of housing choices; and to maintain adequate water supply and sewage treatment facilities.

The controlled development plan attracted national attention in 1975 when the city was taken to court by the Construction Industry Association.

Two success stories were that of Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC) (now Tellabs), and Cerent, which was purchased by Cisco.

Some Cerent employees went on to purchase the Phoenix Theater, a local entertainment venue, which was once an opera house.

In March of that year, the city formally prohibited construction of new gas stations,[22][23][24] becoming the first municipality in the world to enact such a ban.

A significant amount of the city is in the river's flood plain, which overflows its banks every few years, particularly in the Payran neighborhood.

[10] Principal environmental noise sources are U.S. Route 101, Petaluma Boulevard, Washington Street and other major arteries.

Its dry summer is characterized by typically warm days and cool nights with a large degree of diurnal temperature variation.

The city's population (in terms of sex) was practically evenly split, with 50.1% of residents being female, and 49.9% being male.

Nine-tenths (90.5%) of the population had graduated high school, with 40.3% of residents having obtained a Bachelor's degree or higher level of education.

The median gross rent in Petaluma was measured to be $2,144, with the labor force participation rate having leveled off at 65.7%.

The Latino ethnic groups are Mexicans (16.2%), Salvadorans (1.2%), Guatemalans (0.6%), Nicaraguans (0.3%), Peruvians (0.3%), and Puerto Ricans (0.3%).

[42] It includes a parade surrounded by a festival with contains food, crafts, live music, two large kids areas, and beverage gardens.

Immediately to the southwest is Helen Putnam Regional Park, accessible from Chileno Valley Road.

Lying above the city of Petaluma on the northwest flank of Sonoma Mountain is the Fairfield Osborn Preserve, a nature reserve with a diversity of native plants and animals.

Nearby to the southeast is Tolay Lake, the site of prehistoric seasonal settlement by Miwok and Pomo tribes.

[43] The other six council members are Janice Cader Thompson, Brian Barnacle, Mike Healy, Karen Nau, Dennis Pocekay, and John Shribbs (Vice Mayor).

Casa Grande High School has a notable Academic Decathlon team, which has represented Sonoma County for the last 27 years in the state-level competition.

The Amtrak Thruway 7 bus provides daily connections to/from Petaluma (with a stop at 19 Copeland Street), Martinez to the south, and Arcata to the north.