FREE
ADMISSION
announced “Gilroy” in bright lights. The final cost came in over
budget at $14,000, but the final result seemed well worth it.
Over the next half-century, Gilroy’s architecturally attractive
depot saw regular passenger and freight service. Occasional
crowds gathered to welcome campaigning dignitaries,
beginning with the presidential candidate Warren G. Harding
and ending with a brief visit by Richard Nixon.
Sadly, Gilroy’s much-hailed depot closed in 1971, a victim
of disuse. By then, passengers were traveling by auto and
airplane and freight was increasingly carried on trucks. The
venerable station turned into a stopping place for vagrants,
falling into graffiti-adorned disrepair. For the next two
decades, its transportation function was downgraded to a
switching station.
In 1992 CalTrain began commute service from the boarded-
up station. Then in 1998, restoration efforts brought the old
structure back to life, adding to the station’s renewed use as a
transportation hub. A grand reopening celebrated the depot’s
reemergence, to include an authentically restored waiting
room, and ticket office, and a fresh coating of exterior paint
that was matched to the station’s original hues.
The old days of fruit, grain and livestock shipments are long
gone from the rails of Gilroy’s historic depot, which, starting
with the original 1870 structure, has seen nearly a century and
a half of transportation service from the same locale. Adapting
along with the era, the station now serves as a commuter point
for both train and bus service, marking yet another shift in the
movement of people and goods in the modern era.
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Located In Historic, Picturesque Downtown
Morgan Hill between Main and
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Produced by Minnich Productions
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JULY/AUGUST 2017
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