 The Alemanic form is already mentioned as "Phetterhusen" in a 1296 document.The spelling "ph" in Old High German notes "pf" in Modern German.From the 17th century to 1919, the German "Pfetterhausen" ("-hausen" is an often-used suffix for German village names) was used instead, then in 1919 "Pérouse" (which more sounds French, because Alsace was taken back by France) and, in the end, "Pfetterhouse", "-house" is a widespread spelling in Alsace (see Mulhouse) for the Alemanic "-hüse" and the German "-hausen"

Before World War I, a big clock factory attracted several new citizens, but this factory didn't manage to recover after World War I and World War II, and finally closed just after World War II.