Depot celebrates 100th anniversary with party Saturday

One of the first questions visitors are asked when they enter Petaluma’s Visitors Center is, “Are you interested in trains?” It’s a way of separating the train buffs from the regular tourists, says the woman behind the desk at the Historic Northwest Pacific Depot, celebrating its centennial with a party on Saturday, Oct.|

One of the first questions visitors are asked when they enter Petaluma’s Visitors Center is, “Are you interested in trains?”

It’s a way of separating the train buffs from the regular tourists, says the woman behind the desk at the Historic Northwest Pacific Depot, celebrating its centennial with a party on Saturday, Oct. 25.

“Some people, all they care about are the trains,” said Lisle Lee, a staffer at the Visitor’s Center, which has been located in the Old Depot since 2006. “We used to have one or two in particular who would come in here and tell us everything we needed to know about trains. Sometimes we still get older retirees who are curious about the Northwest Pacific Railroad. But most people want to find out more about Petaluma.”

It’s not hard to see why the place, located at 210 Lakeville St., attracts train fans. The building is a classic train depot, down to the rounded ticket window on the southeast corner - now the office of the Petaluma Downtown Association’s executive director. Maps, guides and fliers of things to do in Petaluma festoon the display areas, serving the thousands of tourists who come to Petaluma every weekend. But the big yellow railroad crossing sign over the fireplace is a visible reminder to all of the building’s original purpose.

The classic architecture of the depot came from Southern Pacific’s staff architect D.J. Patterson, and is one of several he did in his career. Some say that its Mission Revival style is unique among his buildings, giving it the characteristic look of a California railway depot with its arched portico, khaki plaster finish and decorative roofline.

The depot was built on the site of the original train station - a wooden structure, erected in 1871, that was picked up and moved a few yards south to serve as a baggage warehouse. That eventually burned down, though other antique structures on the depot grounds still stand. The largest of these is the former American Railway Express office, now hosting the Petaluma Arts Center where a Dia de los Muertos exhibit is currently on display.

Of course it’s impossible to ignore the iron rail lines driving through the property, originally forged in 1871 as one of many railroads that eventually completed the journey from the Bay Area to the Redwood Empire. Railroad buffs know all about the Northwestern Pacific line, also known as NWP or, affectionately, “Nowhere in Particular” due to its meandering northbound route from Sausalito to Samoa, outside of Arcata in Humboldt County. The NWP was forged by combined efforts of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads, which bought up a total of 43 smaller rail lines to create Northwest Pacific in 1914.

The tracks that lead back into time from the 21st century SMART cars to the coal-powered iron horses of the late 18th century will be celebrated on Oct. 25 in two locations, parallel celebrations of Petaluma’s history. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Old Depot will give itself a birthday party, honoring its centennial with cake, champagne and a toast by Mayor David Glass.

“The cake will be decorated with a model of the tracks and depot,” said Jenny Hawks of the Petaluma Downtown Association. “It’s open to the entire community. It’s part of the history of the town. We’ll have balloons, an open house all day, and people in period costume. Petalumans like to dress up,” she added.

The event is held in concert with another centennial, the Northwest Pacific Railroad’s Golden Spike Celebration at the NWP Historical Society Restoration Yard, from noon to 4 p.m. “We discovered that the depot was actually dedicated April 24, 1914, but we were too involved with the Butter & Egg Days events that weekend,” said Hawks. “So piggy-backing with the railroad people seemed like an appropriate choice.”

The Golden Spike celebration will include working locomotives, guided tours of rail cars and a caboose in restoration, a traditional “wig-wag” crossing signal, working model railroads and railroad engineers, historians and SMART staff. According to Gus Campagna of the railroad historical society, Northern California’s original “golden spike” - an echo of the 1869 linkage of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah - was driven into the rail line in October 1914 at Cain Rock, south of Alderpoint, Humboldt County. This weekend’s Golden Spike ceremony at the restoration yard honors that event.

Transportation at that time, a century ago, was by no means simple. While the steam lines were fighting it out for North Bay supremacy, the city had its own horse-drawn cable cars, the Petaluma Street Railway. For a nickel you could ride across town from F and 6th streets down Liberty to Kentucky, over to Washington then across town (past the train depot) to the old fairgrounds at Kenilworth Park.

In 1903 the enterprising John A. McNear, by then nearing 70, bought up that and other local horse-drawn rails and created the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Electric Railway, fondly known as the Chicken and Cow Line. The two competing routes were such bitter enemies their respective workers literally came to blows in Santa Rosa, in March 1905, over a disputed rail intersection at Sebastopol Avenue.

The Great Depression knocked commercial train travel off the rails for good, though the lumber boom kept freight traffic strong into the 1970s. But the Petaluma Depot had long since fallen into disrepair.

When the depot was built in 1914 it cost about $7,000 . Its renovation in 2005 cost $3.2 million, part of the city’s plan to revitalize track-side neighborhoods. The restoration, driven by period photographs of the structure in its prime, made it the Petaluma showcase it is today, with its red clay tile flooring, reconstructed fireplace and open-beamed ceiling.

Soon the long-dormant tracks themselves will be used on a daily basis by the SMART commuter train, on schedule to start operations late in 2016. The SMART platform is half-completed outside the Petaluma Arts Center, according to spokesman Matt Stevens. But the ticketing operations will be based on Clipper smart card kiosks, and the quiet, low-emission diesel rail cars bear little resemblance to the chugging, puffing locomotives of old.

(Contact Christian Kallen at argus@arguscourier.com)

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