Town of Danville and Museum of the San Ramon Valley Unveil Restored 1891 Southern Pacific Depot Platform and Telegraph Gallery

Historic preservation specialists with the Town of Danville and curators from the Museum of the San Ramon Valley dedicated a restored nineteenth-century heart-redwood station platform canopy, a permeable brick promenade, and an interactive railroad telegraphy gallery on Sunday afternoon at the historic 1891 Southern Pacific Railroad Depot at 205 Railroad Avenue (at Prospect Avenue) in downtown Danville. Positioned directly alongside the Iron Horse Regional Trail,which occupies the original 1891 San Ramon Branch Line roadbed, the meticulously preserved Victorian Stick-style depot welcomes more than 35,000 annual visitors and third-grade history classes.

On the exterior of the two-story Colonial Yellow and Tuscan Red depot, preservation carpenters replaced weathered corbels and tongue-and-groove soffit boards beneath the deep passenger platform overhang using salvaged old-growth redwood. Glaziers also fitted the original twelve-pane double-hung station sash windows with invisible low-emissivity UV-blocking storm panes that protect sensitive nineteenth-century ranch ledgers, Tatcan Indian basketry, and pioneer textiles inside the main gallery.

Outside the baggage room door, masons re-laid 4,200 square feet of wire-cut heritage clay pavers at a flush zero-step grade linking the Iron Horse Trail bicycle plaza to the waiting room entrance. Inside the restored bay-window station agent's booth, visitors can now key authentic brass Morse code sounders connected to a digital audio map of 1905 San Ramon Valley agricultural freight stops.

The $310,000 depot preservation project was funded jointly by the Danville Town Council and the Museum of the San Ramon Valley Heritage Endowment. Visitors can check exhibition schedules on the Museum of the San Ramon Valley Official Website.