Glenwood Station The most important station between Felton and Los Gatos was undoubtedly Glenwood, located roughly half-way along the Mountain Route of the South Pacific Coast Railroad, 66 miles south of San Francisco via Alameda Point. It served multiple functions for different types of trains, and was such an important waystop along the line that the town survived in diminished form for two decades after the Mountain Route was disbanded in 1940. Charles C. Martin founded the small township in 1851 where he built a tollhouse and waystation for passing stagecoaches along Bean Creek. At first, he named the little settlement Martinsville, but he was convinced to change it to Glenwood a few years later. The current name means what it describes—a glen in the woods. Locals have also called the place Bean Hollow over the years, since it is a hollow alongside Bean Creak. Martin built a small town which included a winery and a lumber mill. When the train came to town, he added a general store, farm, personal villa, picnic area, and a large hotel. Eventually, the town hosted the Glenwood Magnetic Springs Hotel & Resort, which was one of the many tourist traps located in Santa Cruz County during this era. Because of the stagecoach line, California eventually routed a state highway—called Glenwood Highway—through the town. The importance of Glenwood to the railroad goes back to the construction of the line in 1879. When construction began on the route, Glenwood was at the end of one of the mile-long tunnels: Tunnel #3. On the south end of the tunnel was Glenwood and on the north was Laurel, a smaller and slightly less important stop on the line. Like the Summit Tunnel, Glenwood Tunnel was drilled from both ends. Glenwood turned into a construction site and Chinese labor camp for two years as progress was made on the tunnel. The Glenwood Tunnel took less work than the Summit Tunnel, but a smaller bore south of Glenwood under Mountain Charlie was also required, keeping the laborers busy. The camp remained in existence through 1880 as stories from that time report picking up Chinese workers at Glenwood. After the railroad began service through the town, things changed quickly. Glenwood was roughly at the top of the grade. From there, trains headed downhill south to Los Gatos, or downhill south to Santa Cruz. Freight trains—especially lumber haulers—left their cars at Glenwood for later cars to pick up. The 1899 Station Book notes that it had an A-class freight depot, meaning that there were plenty of sidings to park cars on. There was also a turntable and special houses built for crew spending the night. The station there had full telegraph equipment and provided both passenger and freight service. When the line was broad-gauaged in the early 1900s, the turntable appears to have been removed, possibly because the Santa Cruz-Los Gatos supply line was better understood by that time. The freight office at Glenwood closed in February 1927, signaling the beginning of the end for Glenwood. Today, Glenwood Highway has been rerouted to create Highway 17, which completely bipassed Glenwood in 1940, the same year that the railroad discontinued service to the town. The stationhouse was demolished and the tracks pulled up two years later. The town declined quickly from that point, with the post office closing in 1954. The last formal resident of the town (as opposed to resident of Scotts Valley) was Margaret Koch, the granddaughter of Charles C. Martin and the last postmaster. She died in 1990. People still live in the area but it is sparsely settled. The south portal of Glenwood Tunnel can be viewed under the road when exiting the town to the north.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 02:20:03 +0000
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