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Mill Valley station

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Coordinates: 37°54′22″N 122°32′53″W / 37.9062°N 122.5480°W / 37.9062; -122.5480
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Mill Valley
The depot in 2007
General information
Location87 Throckmorton Avenue
Mill Valley, California
United States
Coordinates37°54′22″N 122°32′53″W / 37.9062°N 122.5480°W / 37.9062; -122.5480
Elevation66 feet (20 m)
Platforms2 side platforms, 1 island platform (standard-gauge), 1 side platform, 1 island platform (narrow-gauge)[1][2][3][better source needed]
Tracks2 standard-gauge, multiple-narrow gauge
Train operators
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
Architectural styleMission Revival
History
Opened1889
Closed1940
Rebuilt1900
1929
Electrified1903
Previous namesEastland
Services
Preceding station Northwestern Pacific Railroad Following station
Terminus Sausalito–Mill Valley Park Avenue
toward Sausalito

The Mill Valley station is a former railway station and historic depot located on Throckmorton Avenue in Mill Valley, California. Passenger railway services ran in Mill Valley between 1889 and 1940. The current station building was built in 1929 and served as a freight depot into the 1950s.

History

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Eastland station opened in 1889. It was the terminal of a spur of the North Pacific Coast Railroad.[4] Before the station's construction, the nearest train station to Mill Valley was the Almonte station near the current location of Tamalpais High School.[5] The town and station soon changed their name to Mill Valley. The Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway was constructed from here to the top of Mount Tamalpais in 1896.[6]

A photographic negative of the first Mill Valley Station with North Pacific Coast Railroad narrow gauge train stopped in front.

A new station was constructed in 1900.[5][6] The line to Mill Valley was electrified in 1903, and the depot opened to interurban service on August 21, 1903.

In 1929, the current Mission Revival-style depot was built, replacing the previous wooden one.[5][7] The depot stopped running westbound trains following the closure of the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway in 1930 and ceased eastbound passenger service with the last train leaving for Sausalito on September 30, 1940, shortly before the complete shutdown of the Northwestern Pacific interurban system.[8] Freight service continued until the early 1950s. The depot also served as a Greyhound stop until the 1970s.[9]

Present

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The tracks and platforms have since been paved over and are now the depot plaza, and the depot was repurposed into a café and bookstore. Like many other former depots in Marin, it still has the Northwestern Pacific Railroad wooden medallion on the side.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Steaming Up Tamalpais. Retrieved May 7, 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  2. ^ MT. TAMALPAIS AND MUIR WOODS RAILWAY 1898 & 1906 HISTORIC FILMS 61244. Retrieved May 7, 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  3. ^ Interurbans In Marin County Part 2: Operations | Circa 1939 - 1941 | Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Retrieved May 7, 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  4. ^ Abraham, Belle (March 1, 1949). "Out Of the PAST". Vol. XLVIII, no. 17. Mill Valley Record. p. 2. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Fletcher, Scott (June 24, 2019). "Marin history: Downtown Mill Valley train station a Marin fixture". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railroad". Mill Valley Historical Society. September 8, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  7. ^ Rodriguez, Adrian (April 3, 2018). "Mill Valley Depot renovation gets thumbs up from city". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  8. ^ "Mill Valley Railroad Depot Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  9. ^ "Then & Now: The Depot". Mill Valley, CA Patch. March 1, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  10. ^ "Mill Valley Depot Café and Bookstore". Depot Cafe&Bookstore. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
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