Railroad memories
San Rafael ceremony celebrates historic train site
Fred Codoni rode the last interurban electric Marin County train on Feb. 28, 1941, when he was 6 years old.
Seventy-six years later, he took his first ride on the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit train in 2017.
“My memories of that first ride sparked a lifelong interest in railroads,” said Codoni, a resident of Fairfax and past grand president of the Native Sons. “As Native Sons of the Golden West, an important part of our mission is preserving and recognizing these historic structures.”
To that end, one of San Rafael's last original railroad structures, the B Street station, has received a dedication from the Native Sons of the Golden West.
Codoni served as the master of ceremonies during a plaque ceremony last week at the former Northwest Pacific Railroad station at 728 A St. The historic structure, which used to be on B Street, was built in 1930 to replace a wooden station erected in 1882.
The station was one of six Mission-style hubs constructed by the railroad in 1929 and 1930.
State and local representatives of the Native Sons, led by “grand president” Jeff Schmidt of Georgetown Parlor #91, placed a bronze plaque at the site during the Jan. 28 event. It is inscribed with a century-plus history of the railroad networks connecting Marin with the rest of the country.
The event was a boon for train buffs, historians and San Rafael preservationists.
Codoni said the B Street railroad station was an important nexus for the network of railroad lines that connected Marin County's municipalities with San Francisco and the rest of the nation.
The original B Street station was built in 1869 for the county's first railroad from San Rafael to San Quentin, which took passengers to the San Quentin pier and its ferryboats, Codoni said.
The station was taken over in 1875 by the North Pacific Coast Railroad, whose main ferryboat terminal was in Sausalito. The station connected passengers from San Anselmo and the Ross Valley.
In 1903, the railroad went electric, but the wooden structure remained. In 1907, Marin railroads, excluding the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods lines, were merged into the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. It reached from Sausalito to Eureka and beyond, drawing passengers from the B Street station.
The wooden station was
replaced in 1930 with the modern, Mission Revivalstyle structures.
Interurban service was discontinued in 1941 and the building was moved one block east to the A Street site, where it has been used for a variety of small businesses. In 2019 it became the His and Hers hair salon.
The exterior retains much of its history from nearly 100 years ago. The interior has been remodeled.
Codoni spent several decades working for the Northwestern Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads, retiring in 1988, he said. He told the audience of about 75 at the ceremony that he hopes “Marin County's future needs could be served by more public transportation, lessening our dependence
on automobiles.”
Gus Campagna, secretary of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society, described the building as a living artifact and an architectural companion to the group's archive in Petaluma.
“The mission style and large NWPRR logo graced many of the NWP stations,” he said. “The historical society is pleased that the Native Sons of the Golden West have honored the history of the station with the dedication of the plaque they placed on the building.”
Marcie Miller, education director at the Marin History Museum, said the train service was crucial to the distribution networks of dairy products within and beyond the county. She said
the train between San Rafael and San Quentin drastically cut down transportation time.
“We were there for the recognition that the building is still standing, for one, and the importance of that train station,” she said.
Leslie Simons, president of San Rafael Heritage, said her group began in 2015 to focus on the retention of historic sites and the built environment.
“Our initial specific purpose was to save the depot on Tamalpais and illuminate the influence of the railroads in the development of San Rafael into a full-fledged railroad suburb of San Francisco and commercial hub of the county,” she said, referring to Tamalpais Avenue.