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eLivermore.com - By Bill Nale |
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Local History |
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Back to: Home Page |
Livermore, Pleasanton, and the Tri-Valley have an interesting history, dating back to the 1800s. Early Rancheros, the Transcontinental Railroad, Hops Fields, wild times in the wild west, infamous bandits, quality wines, the Lincoln Highway, a Water Temple, and a tragic rock concert are all part of our colorful history.
eLivermore.com has a growing history section, which includes hundreds of historical and current photos and many historical write-ups. We also direct you to other web sites and museums with local history content.
Menu of our History Content
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Historical Photos Livermore photos from the 1800s and 1900s
History Timeline |
Historical Publications List of local historical publications Available at the Livermore History Center |
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Current Photos Livermore, Pleasanton, and the Tri-Valley Local Sites and Events |
People in Local History |
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History on the Web List of other web sites with history content |
Historical Buildings & Sites |
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Quick Links
| Livermore Flagpole | Railroads | Wineries | William Mendenhall | Robert Livermore |
| Ravenswood | Highway Garage | Kottinger Barn | Sunol Water Temple |
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Historical Photos |
 Aerial Photos |
 Wineries |
 Flag Pole Dedication |
 Railroad Station |
 Brick Factory |
Click Here for the Historical Photos Page
Click on a photo to go directly to that section
This section provides over 200 Historical
Photos of Livermore, mostly from the Livermore Heritage Guild collection.
These includes aerial photos from over the years, buildings, businesses and events.
Many of the places are long gone, but some of them are still around. Present day photos are also provided
for many of the existing buildings.
The thumbnails shown here are only a small portion of the sites and topics.
See the Historic Photos Page for the
full list.
 Ravenswood |
McLeod Building |
 Sweeney Opera House |
 Farmer's Exchange Hotel |
 Laddsville Exchange |
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Current Photos |
Click here for our main Photos Page
Current Photos include several hundred photos taken by
eLivermore.com in the last several years.
This includes major sections on:
Livermore Sites,
Pleasanton Sites,
Local Events,
The Niles Canyon Railway,
View from ACE Train.
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History Timeline |
All of these appear on the
History Timetable
Page
See also Museums on the Things To Do page
| An information source for those who are interested in the history of Livermore. Operates the History Center in the historic Carnegie Library Building. | ||
| New! | Barry Schrader's History Columns | Local Historian Barry Schrader has a column which runs weekly in the Herald, Valley Times, and Independent. |
| The Museum on Main Street. Museum at 603 Main St Pleasanton; 462-2766 | ||
| Museum of the San Ramon Valley | Museum in the SP railroad station in Danville (925) 837-3750 | |
| Genealogical data base of the Tri-Valley Area. | ||
| Livermore City Website History Page | ||
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Livermore - The Movie Independent Lens Web Site |
60 minute movie which premiered in February 2002 about Livermore. With the missing time capsule and the totem pole as the central themes, the movie goes through various aspects of Livermore's history. The VHS and DVD is available online at this link and at Altamont Books. | |
| Pleasanton City Website History Page | ||
| Kids on Pleasanton | Designed by students of the Computer Studies classes at Pleasanton Middle School | |
| Dublin City Website History Page | ||
| Sunol History | on Sunol.net | |
| ACE train web site history | History of the areas where the ACE train runs. A good read. Tracy, Altamont, Livermore, Pleasanton, etc. Note: This has been removed from the site. We are trying to locate the articles. | |
| Travels of Joseph LeConte | through the Livermore Valley in 1870. On Sierra Club site. | |
| History of specific items or places | ||
| Livermore is the home of the longest burning light bulb in history. It is located at the fire station on East Ave, and is now 100 years old. | ||
| Four Cemeteries of Livermore | Oak Knoll Cemetery, Roselawn Memorial Park, St. Michael's Cemetery, Memory Gardens Memorial Park | |
| Cemeteries of Pleasanton and Dublin, California | Pleasanton Memorial Gardens Cemetery, St. Augustine's Catholic Cemetery, Dublin Cemetery | |
| Local History On-line Project | Bunshah Index to Livermore Newspapers | |
| Livermore Rodeo History Page | ||
| May School and other places | Local history and pictures of May School, and other places. | |
| A military document | References and pictures of the Naval Air Station at Livermore (where the Lab is now). Search the Acrobat file for "Livermore". | |
| Trevarno Road | Brief history of the Fuse Works and the Trevarno Road houses. | |
| USS Livermore | A destroyer in WWII. Named after Samuel Livermore, a navy Chaplin in the war of 1812. Doesn't really have anything to do with the city. | |
| Lawrence Livermore National Lab History Page | ||
| Sandia National Laboratories History Page | ||
| The Lincoln Highway ran through Livermore in the Portola Ave. Area. Click here for a local site | ||
| Livermore Fire Brick Company | Now the site of the "Brickyard" shopping center. | |
| Star Brick Company | Livermore. | |
| Niles Brick Factory | In Niles Canyon. The smoke stacks from the kilns and some debris is all that remains. eLivermore Photos from the Niles Canyon Railway, with a description. View from the ACE Train of the brickyard remains. Deconstruction of brick Factory article. | |
| Pictures of Livermore kids of the past with their classmates, friends, teammates, and other associates | ||
| Sunol Water Temple | The water temple is owned by the San Francisco water district, and was recently renovated. eLivermore Photos and description. | |
| Sunol History - Bosco | On the site for Bosco's Bones and Brew Restaurant. Click on the History Link. | |
| Tesla and Carnegie History | Dan Mosier's site on Tesla and Carnegie. | |
| Vallecitos Nuclear Plant | A description of the plant, located off Highway 84, on the American Society of Mechanical Engineer web site. | |
| Railroads | ||
| Running the first and third Sunday of every month (Oct to March) First three Sundays of every month May to Sept, every Sunday in April for the "Flower Train". Contains history and photos, as well as schedules. | ||
| ACE train web site history | History of the areas where the ACE train runs. A good read. Tracy, Altamont, Livermore, Pleasanton, etc. Note: This has been removed from the site. We are trying to locate the articles. | |
| Central Pacific Railroad History | The Central Pacific built the portion of the original transcontinental railroad from the west. They installed the original tracks through Livermore, Pleasanton, and Niles Canyon. The Niles Canyon runs on this right of way. In Pleasanton, it ran downtown by the old train station, and is no longer used, although most of the right of way and some track is still visible. In Livermore the tracks were realigned with the Western Pacific route in about 1963. It was later merged with the Southern Pacific, which was bought by the Southern Pacific. | |
| Union Pacific Railroad | The railroad which passes through Niles Canyon, Sunol, Pleasanton, Livermore, and the Altamont. The UP bought the WP in 1983 and the SP in 1995/96, owning both routes through the valley, although the SP route no longer existed by the time of the purchase. | |
| Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society | The Southern Pacific was originally set up to run a railroad from San Francisco to southern California and east from there. It was acquired by the Central Pacific's Big Four in 1868. In 1885 the railroads merged and retained the Southern Pacific Railroad name. The SP merged with the Union Pacific in 1995/96 with the name Union Pacific. | |
| SP depot pictures | Includes a picture of the Pleasanton depot in 1913, and the Danville depot in 1912, which is the same design as the Livermore Depot. It is labeled "Standard Plan #18". | |
| Western Pacific Railroad Historical Society | This site provides a lot of history and photographs. The Western Pacific built the second set of tracks through the valley about 1906-1908. They are at the location of the current tracks through the valley. The Western Pacific was bought by the Union Pacific in 1982. | |
| Western Pacific Railroad Virtual Tour | Includes a timetable showing stops in Niles, Sunol, Pleasanton, Livermore, Altamont, etc. | |
| Western Pacific Railroad History | Good source for the history of the WP. Click the "Western Pacific" button that is centered on the home page to get to the actual content. | |
| A large number of photos of WP trains, including Photo of a WP train going through Pleasanton showing the depot in 1937. and several in the altamont pass. | ||
| California Zephyr Virtual tour | Western Pacific train from San Francisco to Chicago from 1949 to 1970. The train ran through the valley, stopping in Niles, and Pleasanton and some trains in Livermore. | |
| Winery Histories | ||
| Chouinard Vineyards History | ||
| Concannon Vineyard History | ||
| Iván Tamás Winery History | ||
| Livermore Valley Cellars History | ||
| Murrieta's Well History | ||
| Stoney Ridge | ||
| Wente History - Visitor's Center | ||
| back to top - Home Page | ||
