Matilija Junction RR Station

The land was once a station on the Ojai Railroad, which was dedicated on March 12, 1898, bringing rail passengers to the Ojai Valley for the first time. The line began in Ventura on Ventura Avenue and ended at the Nordhoff Depot on Fox Street about one mile east of this site. When first built, the station was named Clark for K. P. Clark, one of the railroad’s original investors, and it later became known as Matilija Junction because passengers leaving the train here continued on to Matilija Hot Springs and Wheeler’s Hot Springs, popular health spas less than 10 miles northwest, where health seekers from across the United States were met by carriages and buggies for the ride up the canyon to the resorts. After automobiles arrived, use of the station declined, and it was abandoned on June 1, 1940. In 1947, Bunce Brothers Lumber Yard opened here and remained until 1983. The railroad line was abandoned in 1980 and is now used as a bike, hiking, and equestrian trail. The site stood unoccupied until 2005, when the Rotary Club of Ojai-West led construction of the park as its Rotary Centennial Project.

Ojai, California · United States