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This is the story of the frontier in California that grew to the city of Livermore.
The town was created simultaneously with the Transcontinental Railroad. Initially a ranching railroad town in a valley between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area, it became the economic and intellectual center serving the valley.
The competition between the robber barons to build the portion of the Transcontinental Railroad west of Sacramento is only vaguely noted in histories of the railroad. They were historically unknown in Livermore.
The town grew slowly while the railroad grew to one of the largest corporations in the nation. Competition for the railroad came from Wall Street machinations as well as the development of the automobile and airplanes. Public antipathy for railroad practices caused the elimination of government support and increased regulation, which eventually destroyed their corporations.
The development of interstate freeways and high technology caused the town to rapidly expand to an important city. Although this story is specific to Livermore, it is comparable to the development of other towns in the west.
Alan Frank is a historian with the Livermore Heritage Guild. He was the historic consultant to the City of Livermore for the rescue and refurbishment of the 1892 Central Pacific Railroad Depot. He retired as historian and curator of the Niles Canyon Railway, where he was responsible for placing that segment of the original Transcontinental Railroad on the National Register of Historic Places. Since retirement as a physicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he served as a musician and president of the Livermore-Amador Symphony. He is married and has a married daughter with two grandchildren living in Scotland.
