Menlo Park’s train station is oldest in state of California
Looks like the winner for oldest building still standing in Menlo Park is the train station, which now serves Caltrain passengers.
It was constructed in 1867 by the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad Company and is the oldest railroad passenger station in California.
The Victorian ornamentation was added in the 1890s when the station was remodeled to serve the newly-opened Stanford University. The extension on the northwest was added to accommodate increased traffic generated by the establishment of Camp Fremont nearby during World War I.
During the years Southern Pacific ran the trains, steam locomotives chugged into the station until they were replaced by diesel engines in the 1960s. The newest train is the Baby Bullet, introduced in 2004. Photo by Chris Gulker
Scott Loftesness August 21, 2009 at 9:44 am
Close by the Menlo Park train station is another building (100 feet south of the station itself, right along the main line double track San Jose – San Francisco) that holds the West Bay Model Railroad Association. The layout is open the fourth Wednesday of every month from 7-10 PM.
SuedeShirtTravel July 17, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Looks like there is at least one older train station still standing in California, the Folsom’s Ashland Station, built around 1862 for the Sacramento, Placer, & Nevada Railroad.