When the San Francisco & North Pacific Railway was constructed between San Rafael and Tiburon, interested citizens were carried from San Rafael to the city in 57 minutes. A Dr. Lyford subdivided a large piece of land at Tiburon and offered the lots to bona fide settlers. He expected a rapid influx. The road established 35-cent fares for single tickets and $5 for commutations. Man and wife tickets were sold for $8 per month. Then the North Pacific Coast road reduced rates to meet the broad gauge rates and they doubled the number of trips per day.

The Donohue line ran a free excursion on Mayday, 1884, any many citizens made the trip to Petaluma and return. Donohue, in addressing the citizens at the depot at San Rafael, stated: "We intended to have a little collation here today, but as our depot has not yet been completed we will have to disappoint you, but if you will get aboard the cars we will take you to Petaluma and return. We have sandwiches and wine enough for the ladies and whisky enough for the men.”

Women paid $3 per month for their commutation ticket on both these roads until Jim McCue of Corte Madera, in order to get even with the Coast road, brought suit to compel that line to reduce the men's fares to the same rate as the women paid, as the roads had no right to discriminate between males and females, but Jim failed to prevail in this action. The result of the suit was that railroads raised the women's fare to $5 instead of $3. This rate continued for many years.

Dr. A. H. Du Bois, who lived on Fifth street, San Rafael, opposite the Military Academy, which was operated by Rev. Dr. Crosby, established the cemetery northwest of San Rafael. He could not acquire the right of way out to the cemetery and so he purchased the northerly portion of Red Hill at San Anselmo and he built the zig zag road which you now see up the northerly side of the hill, and from there he intended to build a road to the cemetery, but about the time the road was built on the hillside he acquired the present road to the cemetery through San Rafael.
William T. Coleman acquired most of the land in what was known as Magnolia Valley, San Rafael. He planted nearly all the trees in the northerly portion of San Rafael. Eucalyptus was his main specialty. He maintained a extensive nursery and also set out a number of pepper, magnolia, lemon, orange, acacia, ash, chestnut, cyprus, maple, walnut and other trees, all of which he raised in his own nursery. It is said that he planted over 10,000 altogether. His nursery covered 12 acres. He secured the services of an engineer named Hammond Hall from Golden Gate Park to subdivide his property in acre and half acre lots. He made his roads follow the contour of the land instead of having rectangular blocks and parallel streets. Grand avenue was bordered with these trees and the street was originally laid out to a 100-foot width, winding along the foot of the slopes for a distance of a mile or more.

In May, 1869, the Catholic church resolved to build a new church costing between $5000 and $7000. It was finished and consecrated on October 22, 1870, by Bishop Croke of New Zealand. It had a tall spire. Mission San Rafael was established in 1817. It stood on the site of this new church. The altar occupied the same position as the one in the ancient mission. The old orchard and garden remained as it was.

The Episcopal church was erected in 1870 and was formally opened with services conducted by the Reverends Dyer, Phelps and Bush. This was at the southwest corner of Fourth and "E" streets. The building was consecrated on July 21, 1872, by Rev. Bishop Kipp. It was named St. Paul's Church.

The Presbyterian church was organized in 1868 and Rev. Charles R. Clarke and W. H. Cain preached occasionally in San Rafael. In 1869, at a meeting at the Court House, five trustees were elected: William J. Dickson, Alex Elder, D. A. Brown, Al Barney and J. C. Dickson and on November 21, 1869, Rev. A. Williams commenced to preach, ordaining and installing these elders. On September 1, 1873, Rev. James H. Hawk became the pastor. He died in October, 1874, and on January 5, 1875, Rev. James S. McDonald became pastor. He built a new church which was completed on the first Sunday in 1876. The value was $6000.
Between June 20, 1870, and July, 1874, Rev. T. E. Taylor occupied the pulpit until the arrival of Rev. J. S. Hawk. The salary then paid was $500 a year.

On February 18, 1871, the Methodist church was dedicated by Rev. Dr. Thomas of San Francisco. It cost $3000. The first regular pastor was Rev. Aaron Williams. Prior to these times there were very few people in these territories and the ministers had large areas to cover. There were very few settlements in this north bay district.

Back in these times the climate was evidently warmer than it now is. The mean temperature in the late '70's was 52 degrees in January and December, 57 degrees in March and' February and 66 degrees as an average all year 'around. The rainfall was 36.85 inches. There were 105 cloudy days in the year and 260 clear days. The climate then was just about the same as it was at Monterey and Santa Barbara.

In 1884 H. Francis, Vincent Neale, T. Palache, F. A. Wheeler, W. M. Newhall, W. J. S. McGavin, and Robert Williams organized and incorporated the first Lawn Tennis Club in San Rafael.

Back in the late '70's, William T. Coleman, Alex Forbes, J. D. Walker, George A. Worn and several others built a coach road up to the summit of Mount Tamalpais. This road branched off the Bolinas (Lagunitas) road about where Phoenix Lake now is, and it ran up Bill Williams Gulch. They used to drive a coach and four up this road. Remnants of the road may still be found on the northeastern slope of the mountain. The mountain was then stated to be 2608 feet high. Mount Diablo was 3800 feet high.

R. J. Trumbull, father of Bob Trumbull, had an extensive seed business in San Francisco in the 70's and had a nursery on Culloden Avenue near Center street, San Rafael.

The county court house building was completed about 1877. It cost $80,000 at that time, not including the cost of the land. The public school building contained four rooms. It was designed to accommodate 200 children. It was built about 1884.

The broad gauge railroad depot was finished about July, 1884. It looks just about the same now as it did when first built.

M. C. Dufficy, who came originally from Marysville, after operating the Brooklyn Hotel in San Francisco, came to San Rafael and ran the Central Hotel, after having leased that property. This was in the early 80's. Gas was being used in San Rafael for some years prior to that time. Mrs. J. F. Jordan ran the Albion House on “B” street, between 2nd and 3rd streets. The New England Villa was a popular resort and the Bellevue House also did a good business. M. O'Connor was the landlord at the latter hotel.

Isaac Shaver located in San Rafael in 1864, when there was only a handful of people there. He ran the San Rafael planing mill and built a sawmill at the base of the mountain. This mill he moved seven times as the timber was cut in the various locations. He sold nearly all of the lumber that was used around this territory. He supplied the lumber for many of the state buildings and he owned a number of places in San Rafael, including the New England Villa.

Don Timoteo Murphy built the first house in San Rafael. In 1845 it was occupied by Don Antonio Osio, who was the owner of a portion of the Point Reyes rancho. Murphy resided in the Mission building at this time. There were no other buildings within the limits of San Rafael in 1845. Oliver Irwin's bank later stood on the site of Murphy's house. This house served as the court house for many years. The second private house, and the third building in town, was an addition to the old Mission which occupied the northeast corner of what was then the court house block. It was built by Jacob and J .0. B. Short. These buildings have all made way for others. Prior to 1884, fine homes were built by Sidney V. Smith, W. J. Miller, W. T. Coleman, J. B. Rice, David Nye, J. D. Walker, Mr. Cook, M. J. O'Connor, Mr. Stilwell, J. K, Orr, H. F. Marsh, Chas. Stevens, Oliver Irwin, Robt. Watt, Wm. Lichtenberg, John Allman, A. C. Nichols, and U. M. Gordon, and a number of others.



Return to Early Marin by Donald E. Perry

Use of text and photos prohibited without permission from the San Anselmo Historical Society.