centennial

On October 20, 2001, residents celebrated the Niles Depot's 100th birthday with the Niles Harvest Festival & Depot Centennial. The event was sponsored by the Niles Merchants Association, the Niles Depot Historical Foundation, and the Tri-City Society of Model Engineers.

Speeches at the depot included remarks and presentation of proclamations by local elected officials, as well as California State Archivist Walter P. Gray, III, and Henry Bender, a noted Southern Pacific depot expert.

After the remarks and presentations, guests were treated to cake and the music of Greg Schindel. Better known as Train Singer, Schindel can be heard regularly on the Skunk Train in Willets, California.

There were also speeder rides offered by noted railroad photographer Vic Neves, and the opportunity to look at a variety of early gasoline engines on display in the parking lot. Also on display were live G-scale steam engines pulling trains. The Foundation raffled off two HO scale model railroad layouts. All proceeds and donations were given to the Foundation's fund to move the depot to its original location in Downtown Niles.

Dignitaries attending and presenting proclamations included Scott Haggerty, president of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, Gail Steele, member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, Bob Wasserman, vice mayor of the City of Fremont, Al Nagy, vice mayor of the City of Newark, and Judy Zlatnik and Steve Cho, council members of the City of Fremont. There were also representatives from the Office of California Secretary of State Bill Jones, the Office of State Senator Liz Figueroa and the Office of Assembly Member John Dutra. A proclamation from California Governor Gray Davis was also read.