April 8 will mark the 95th birthday of Chapala’s former railway station, an architectural gem that has survived a checkered history to stand out as the city’s most imposing landmark in its reincarnation at the Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo (CCGG).
Jalisco Secretary of Culture Myriam Vachez Plagnol and the ministry’s museum and exhibition director Susanna Chavez Brandon visited the historic site on Thursday, February 26 to tour the newly refurbished CCGG gallery dedicated to a permanent display of memorabilia, graphics and information retracing the story of the majestic edifice.
The contents of the compact train station salon include a historical timeline, an illustration of the railway line, biographical sketches of the railroad company bigwigs, a digital screen showing a multimedia presentation, and assorted artifacts such as an original passenger ticket and antique photographs and travel trucks from the early 20th century era.
The rejuvenated display is now open to the public during regular CCGG operating hours Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sundays, 10 to 2. Special activities tied in to the 95-year anniversary will include the March 26 opening of a temporary exhibit on loan from the National Railway Museum and the commemoration of the first Guadalajara-Chapala train trip on April 8, both set to start at 6 p.m.
The Chapala railway line was the brainchild of Norwegian adventurer-entrepreneur Christian Schjetnan, who settled in Chapala in 1908 and set his heart, soul and pocketbook on turning the town into an international resort hotspot. He recruited prominent Guadalajara architect Guillermo de Alba to design and build the stately railroad station and several smaller depots along the route.
Construction of railroad track and the station building began in 1917. Through many trials and tribulations, the project was finally completed three years later. But by 1926 Schjetnan’s ambitious business scheme collapsed under competition from motorbus service between Guadalajara and Chapala, growing popularity of automobile travel and flood conditions that put the station building under deep water.
The structure fell into private hands and gradually deteriorated over the next six decades. An initiative to rescue and restore the abandoned landmark got under way in 1991, culminating with its rebirth as the CCGG on March 28, 2006.