Our extra special correspondent to the Daily Journal, local author Joanne Garrison, has penned a history of our historic train station at Burlingame Ave. as part of the run-up to reopening the Historical Society Museum in the station. The DJ piece notes
Members of the Burlingame Country Club lobbied for the train station, selected its location, and chose its architects. The members also insisted that the station stop be named “Burlingame” after their club. The Southern Pacific Railroad was involved, of course, but it contributed less than half the cost of the station — the country club members picking up the bulk of the tab. As architects, the BCC selected George H. Howard, a club member and a scion of the family who owned the property on which the station would sit, and Joachim B. Mathisen, a Norwegian immigrant who had been a draftsman in the office of A. Page Brown at the time Brown designed the California Pavilion for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Commissioned to reflect the uniqueness of California, Brown designed the temporary Chicago structure to resemble a California mission.
More than half a century after it was built, the Burlingame Train Station was awarded both California landmark status and a listing on the National Register of Historic Places because of its architecture. It is the first permanent structure that employs all the elements of what came to be called the Mission Revival-style.
There was a nice event with several hundred people at the station to celebrate the electrification of Caltrain with e-trains offering free hops down to San Mateo where a larger event was held. There will be more to follow as we get closer to the reopening of the museum. We should enjoy the train while we can since its financial status is shaky at best. As one wag said at the event, Waymo is going to give Caltrain more fiscal heartburn as people get used to driverless, door-to-door service for a good price.
A beautiful day. Thanks to BHA for the posters and Copenhagen for the cookies. All very popular!
Posted by: Donna Colson | September 24, 2024 at 01:49 PM
You are very welcome:)
I was wondering if it also seems to others that this new fleet has a much louder (albeit lower-toned) horn? Or maybe they just are supposed to honk more frequently in the pre-dawn hours?
Posted by: Jennifer Pfaff | September 25, 2024 at 04:03 PM
Too loud. Too many times.
Maybe the thieves stealing the copper can swipe the horns…
Posted by: Peter Garrison | September 26, 2024 at 06:29 PM
The grand re-opening is tonight all. Some freebie giveaways and a chance to see the reworked exhibits.
Posted by: Joe | December 06, 2024 at 02:42 PM
Wonderful night on the Avenue and the museum was packed with visitors! Santa was there as well. People stood in line to get in and take photographs, ask questions and tell stories.
Russ Cohen had a beautiful vision for appreciating our town’s history and citizens. He has done a fun, creative and engaging job of remodeling the museum.
Posted by: Peter Garrison | December 07, 2024 at 08:37 AM
The DJ was a bit delayed, but did run a front page piece on the reopening:
The Burlingame Hillsborough History Museum has reopened and is a testament to the history of the two cities and a way to learn from the past, Burlingame Historical Society Vice President Russ Cohen said.
Opened to the public for the Burlingame tree lighting festivities Friday, Dec. 6, there are both traditional and nontraditional exhibits — featuring displays on the movie palace and the impact of the car, among others.
Those interested in true crime might also find some scintillating details about crimes committed throughout Burlingame’s history at the museum as well.
Another especially exciting exhibit uses lenticular graphics to show then-and-now images of Burlingame and Hillsborough.
“We have a whole wall of those types of graphics — when you look at the wall and rock back and forth, if you rock one way, you see an old building and if you rock the other way, you see what’s there today,” Cohen said.
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The Then And Now lenticulars are fantastic. First Sunday of the month-- 1 to 4pm going forward!
Posted by: Joe | December 14, 2024 at 04:52 PM