Street Corner Series #2

...Fourth Street and railroad tracks. This is the boundary for the area of town known as Railroad Square.

I chose this picture as much for the sky as for the intersection at the very edge of the former heart of town. When the 101 freeway was built, it was put right through the middle of town,, effectively separating this historic area from the rest of the town. Perhaps it was a good thing, as many of the historic old buildings survived "modernization".

The old Northwestern  Pacific Railroad Depot, now a visitors' center, the Western Hotel which  houses Flying Goat Coffee were built of distinctive local basalt by four stonemasons who came from Italy at the turn of the century. These two buildings,  plus the Hotel La Rose and the Railway Express Building (now another coffee place) formed the agricultural hub of the county. 

All the produce and food grown in the county passed through Santa Rosa by train. The area was surrounded by canneries, packing houses and food processing plants. Many of these buildings, of exposed brick and cement floors have been  refurbished and now house shops, restaurants and office space.

Although the tracks which connected many of the towns in the county fell into disuse with the advent of highways and cars, the Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit (SMART) train is supposed to start running sometime this spring. 

OilMan and I  have watched them build the platform and a new sidewalk,, erect lights and crossing gates and put up a fence. from our table at the Flying Goat. They have been testing trains, safety systems and the horn for months. We can testify that the horn works so well we can sometimes hear it from our house on the opposite side of town. 

Although there is still a lot of produce grown in the county, a large percentage is now devoted to growing grapes and making wine.The produce from this industry is no longer distributed  by train but to through tourism and wine tasting.

It will be interesting to see who actually rides the train,...