Pictured: Benicia's Southern Pacific train depot was built in the 1890's and moved to its present site in 1902. Trains arriving at the depot, which sits at the bottom of First Street, would be ferried across the Carquinez Straits to Port Costa. When ferries were no longer needed to transport people and goods between Solano and Contra Costa Counties, the depot was abandoned and the tracks torn up. The building was restored in 2001 and is now home to the Benicia Main Street Program.
James Montgomery Owens (1878-1955) was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He served with the 9th Cavalry, Buffalo Soldiers, in the Philippines (1896-1898) during the Spanish-American War. He came to Vallejo in 1903 and became an active member of the community by helping to establish many civic and fraternal orders including Vallejo’s NAACP chapter and Firma Lodge. He was also one of Vallejo’s first African-American building contractors. Photo courtesy of Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum
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