August 15: Rails and Wheels

Rails and Wheels: Turn of the Century Transportation

Speakers: Mathew Lopez and Don Anderson

Learn about the Wild West days of both rail and auto transportation in Healdsburg and Sonoma County in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

Mathew Lopez will tell tales of the cut-throat race to establish the San Francisco & North Pacific Railroad system in Sonoma County and its role in the formation of the much larger Northwestern Pacific Railroad.

Don Anderson will focus on transportation around town as it evolved from wagons, livery stables and bicycles to early automobiles, commercial vehicles and buses.  And how Healdsburg became an automobile-centric destination with the opening of the Redwood Highway.