History of the Kenwood Depot

The spelling of the name of the Depot, was Guilucos when the station opened in 1888. It takes its name from the land grant dated Nov, 13, 1837, with Guilucos used until 1859 when the spelling Los Guilicos is shown on a surveyor’s plat of the rancho. The original plan was to use just Los Guilicos, but Mr. Hood felt that would be confusing, as his rancho was Los Guilicos. So the town used South Los Guilicos at first, but was changed to Kenwood about 1895, perhaps for the suburb of Chicago of that name, or from an estate outside London, England, of the name of Kenwood.

As shown, the Articles of Incorporation of Santa Rosa & Carquinez Railroad was March 26, 1887, to build from Napa Junction to Santa Rosa. None of this line was open yet when the SR&C was merged into the Northern Railway Company on May 15, 1888. The 36.7 mile line was completed May 31, 1888 by the Northern Railway. This branch was called the Santa Rosa Branch, and later the Sonoma Valley Branch. The Northern Railway merged into the Southern Pacific Railroad on April 14, 1898. From the earliest, it was Mark McDonald of Santa Rosa, who worked with the Central Pacific, later Southern Pacific, to connect with lines that would get his fruit to the eastern market, rather than railroad lines that headed only to San Francisco.

The first train that ran all the way to Santa Rosa was May 31, 1888, the passengers getting off at Los Guilicos, while the engine continued on to Santa Rosa. “Santa Rosans organized a parade to the station on June 20, where a golden spike was driven. Bands played and whistles blew. The throngs of people then proceeded to Kroncke’s Park for more celebrating and a barbecue, with 2,500 pounds of beef and 2,000 loaves of bread to satisfy them. That evening the park’s band played music for a ball.”

The Kenwood Depot was built as a union station, with doors for baggage and passengers on both sides of the building, in the event the Donahue line from Novato on the Petaluma River might continue on from Glen Ellen to Santa Rosa, but it never did. The archways can be seen, now leading to rest-rooms and kitchen.

On Jan. 15, 1934, Southern Pacific abandoned the route from Santa Rosa to Los Guilicos, 8.3 mi. Also on the same date the Northwestern Pacific Railroad abandoned the portion of its Sonoma Valley Branch from Yulupa (Madrone) to Glen Ellen, 2.54 mi. A switch was installed at Yulupa to connect with the line formerly owned by S.P. between Yulupa and Los Guilicos. With a continued drop in freight revenues, the line was cut back by NWP to Glen Ellen (SP Station) on Oct. 10, 1941. With a continued drop in freight revenue, and little traffic with pressure of war, the Glen Ellen to Sonoma 6.59 mi. was abandoned on Sept. 15, 1942, and the rails used through the Sonoma Valley were used to construct the Richmond Shipyard Railway between Oakland and Richmond Shipyards. One local man says the last passenger train that ran all the way to Santa Rosa was Nov. 14, 1928. The last freight line to Kenwood was said to be 1936. He went on to say a passenger train came to Eldridge (State Hospital area) in 1939 to take a group to the World’s Fair on Treasure Island. “The Depot is built of stone, rarely used for depots in California, and is a gem or Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. The stone is locally cut basalt, from two different quarries. The stonemasons used a basalt with a pink cast to contrast with a more ordinary charcoal gray basalt. The result is striking when the afternoon sun hits it.

Although it has a different floor plan, most architectural details of Kenwood’s depot are identical to the 1888 stone masonry depot at San Carlos, on the San Francisco Peninsula. Drawings of both these depots appear on adjacent pages of a book titled American Railway Bridges and Buildings, which was published about 1897 or 1898 by the Association of Railway Superintendents of Bridges and Buildings. The same lettering style and other similarities in the drawings indicate that the same architect designed both depots.”

One note shows the Depot had a slate roof with materials imported from Pennsylvania, bringing the cost of the Depot to $11,500 in 1888. Construction of the Depot didn’t start until after the first trains came through.

The Kenwood Improvement Club, whose origins go back to the 1890’s, built a hall in Kenwood in about 1912, which was sold to the Los Guilicos Grange in 1917 with a life interest. In November 1936 the hall burnt, and the insurance of $1,000 went to the Improvement Club, which held it in trust until 1940. One of the trustees, Agnes Morton, went to the Oakland office of Southern Pacific, and persuaded them to sell the Depot for $500, with agreement it be held by and used for the good of the community. The Women’s Club then rented and improved the building, the remainder of the $1,000 trust fund being used to roof, plumb, and improve the old depot when first purchased. It was used as a first aid station during World War II. It was called Los Guilicos House, and was used through the years by Los Guilicos Club (Fed. Women’s Club) Valley of the Moon Farm Bureau, the Teen-agers, Kenwood Dance Band, Camp Fire Girls, 4-H, square dancers, and the Kenwood Improvement Club, now called Kenwood Community Club. It is rented out for weddings, receptions and parties. It became a County Landmark by Commission November 6, 1979, Landmark #46.

Sam Brannan Chapter thanks both local historian Margaret Wiltshire for information provided in this handout and Henry E. Bender, Jr. for permission to quote from his book California Railroad Depots.

The Kenwood Depot, 314 Warm Springs Road, Kenwood, CA 95452
Mailing address: Box 275, Kenwood, CA 95452, 707 833-5190

The Kenwood Depot is maintained and operated by the Kenwood Community Club a 501(c)(3)
non-profit corporation. Donations are always welcome and contributions are tax deductable,
as allowed by law. Please send donations to the KCC at the mailing addess listed above.
©2007 Kenwood Community Club. Web site design contributed by Larry MacDonald.