The Atherton Train Station Museum Opens Oct. 18, Three Years After Its Construction Contract

On Sunday, Oct. 18, from 2 to 4 p.m., the Town of Atherton holds a ribbon cutting at the old depot on Dinkelspiel Station Lane and opens it as the Atherton Train Station Museum. The town council gave the construction contract to a builder in April 2023. Most of the time since then went into deciding what the 620-square-foot room should say. Building it took far less.

The museum is a small room of local history. Its content came from a council subcommittee and volunteers, and the Town invited residents to lend material. Opening week is a good time to visit and to share what you know about the town's railroad past.

Opening day, in brief

• When: Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, 2 to 4 p.m.
• Where: The depot on Dinkelspiel Station Lane, next to the Atherton Civic Center
• Registration: The Town asks attendees to register through Eventbrite, using the QR code on its event page
• After opening day: The Town has not posted regular visiting hours as of Oct. 12, 2026

That last point matters if you're planning around it. The ribbon cutting is the one confirmed public opening on the calendar right now.

A station that outlived its trains

The Town's event page tells the long version. It starts with Fair Oaks, which the Town describes as a flag stop on the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, a line built largely by Chinese laborers. The stop grew into a four-sided glass station, one of the few fully glass-enclosed railroad stations of its era. By the 1950s it had become the enclosed depot that generations of commuters used. The Almanac credits the Pacific and Atlantic Railroad with opening the Fair Oaks stop in the 1860s, citing Atherton Heritage Association documents, and explains that a flag stop meant trains halted only when someone waved a cloth to be picked up.

Passenger service shrank long before the building closed. Caltrain says weekday trains stopped serving Atherton in 2005 because demand was low. Before the pandemic, the station had weekend-only trains every 90 minutes and averaged 114 passengers per weekend day. The agency also pointed to the station's outdated platform layout. It estimated a $30 million upgrade would be needed to meet modern standards and handle expanded service after electrification. Caltrain's board voted to close the station in November 2020, and the closure took effect on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020.

That left Atherton with a building it uses but does not own. Under the closure agreement, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board kept ownership of the property. The Town took on station-area landscaping, and any renovation needed JPB approval. The same agreement gave the Town $400,000 for station-area improvements, paid as reimbursement. One option it listed was folding the depot into the new Town Center.

Construction finished before the exhibit panels did

Here is the project's full timeline, taken from Town staff reports, Almanac coverage and the Town calendar:

The construction side is easy to follow. In November 2022, the Almanac reported that staff estimated construction at about $300,000. The winning bid came in close to that. On April 19, 2023, Council awarded the job to Castillo Plumbing, Inc. of Hayward for $302,000, according to the Almanac. The staff recommendation allowed up to $30,000 more for change orders. The Town had already committed $96,000 to design. About $43,000 of HVAC, monument-sign and clock work was left as unfunded bid alternates. No published record yet shows a final cost or how much of the change-order allowance was spent.

The exhibits are what took the time. In June 2025, the Town's calendar listed an October 2025 opening. The same notice asked the community for artifacts, historical knowledge, model displays and volunteers. That opening date passed. By the May 6, 2026 study session, staff reported that most of the work was finished. The horizontal interpretive panels were still being designed, and full completion was estimated for mid-to-late June. Council told staff to open in September if the exhibit designs were done by then. The date settled on Oct. 18.

The staff report credits that panel work to a Train Station Subcommittee made up of Vice Mayor Rick DeGolia and former Councilmember Diana Hawkins-Manuelian. In 2022, it was Hawkins-Manuelian who hoped the museum would be ready for the September 2023 centennial. City Manager George Rodericks's update in the Fall 2026 Athertonian frames the opening as a celebration of "this historic landmark and the volunteers who helped bring it back to life."

What the plans put inside 620 square feet

The finished exhibit inventory has not been published. The plans give a fairly clear picture, though. The Town's own description promises more than 150 years of railroad history, "from early wood-burning locomotives to today's electric trains."

The 2021 concept called for static displays on Atherton before the railroad and on the station itself. It also included a model-train display arranged in time order, video, and a wall of memorabilia and photos. As the Almanac described the 2022 design, model trains would run on a track inside a secure display case as the centerpiece, telling the story of trains in Atherton in order. Benches and a video display were planned as well. The November 2022 design report added perimeter displays and center display cases.

The building's changes are easy to spot from outside. The open side facing the tracks was to be closed with glass wall panels that match the original structure, with a double door. On the Civic Center side, the middle wall panel was to be replaced with powered double doors. The design report placed the main entrance toward the Civic Center and the accessible entry on the track side. In effect, the depot now faces the town hall instead of the railroad.

The 2021 concept also named possible content sources. These included the Atherton Heritage Association, the Town's collections, San Mateo County historical archives, the Menlo Park Historical Society and the Sacramento rail museum archives. That was a 2021 list of options. It does not confirm which groups' material ended up on display.

In 2022, DeGolia told the Almanac why he favored the project:

"The train station building is a building that everyone in Atherton knows. There has been a train station building there for more than 100 years and if it is turned into an interesting exhibit and museum, I think that it will be a point of interest for Atherton residents and an interesting feature in the new Town Center."

Building an afternoon around it at Town Center

The depot is the newest piece of the Town Center, but not the only recent one. On June 27, 2026, the Atherton Library opened its 6,200-square-foot Children's Garden on the building's west side. The Almanac reported it includes a willow hut, a tree house and an outdoor classroom tied to the library's makerspace. The museum and the garden are a short walk apart within the same civic campus.

The Town's fall calendar keeps people coming to the area through December:

• Oct. 20, 4 p.m.: Junior Sewing Machine Basics at the library
• Oct. 28, 11 a.m. to noon: Atherton Book Club
• Oct. 29, 3 to 5 p.m.: Halloween Spooktacular
• Nov. 12, 6 p.m.: Fall ADU Mixer, with details still to come
• Dec. 10, at sunset, estimated 6:30 p.m.: Tree Lighting
• Fridays, 9:45 to 10:45 a.m.: Library Walking Club

The Fall Athertonian does not list venues for the Spooktacular or the Tree Lighting. Check the Town's page before you go.

In June 2025, the Town asked residents for artifacts, historical knowledge, model displays and volunteer help for the depot. If you have an old station photo or a Fair Oaks story, the Oct. 18 ribbon cutting is the first public event at the finished museum.

At Bay Area Home Sales, Annemarie Heynig follows the Atherton Town Center projects closely, from the Children's Garden to this depot. Places like these shape daily life on a street long before anyone thinks about selling a home there. If you'd like to talk through how your home fits into that picture, Schedule a Free Consultation.