Barstow Museum preserves the legacy of America's Mother Road

Barstow Calif. (KABC) -- If you come to Harvey House, you're going to come into the WARM Museum, which is a Western Area Railroad museum, and get a good education about the railroad.

Barstow Mayor Tim Silva walked us through one of two museums at the historic Harvey House.

The railroad museum is fitting, since the city was formerly known as Waterman Junction, a place where trains stopped for water!

“Harvey House was a place where the rail or the trains would stop, and you would get food. You'd have a hotel place to stay. But it was a rail depot,” Silva said.

While it's still an Amtrak stop, a lot of people come to learn, like at the NASA exhibit, reflecting the antennas in nearby Goldstone, that were used to track communications on the mission to the moon.

"And that one first step, that was communicated through the antennas at Goldstone, north of Barstow," Silva said.

Another piece of rich Barstow history is captured at the calso at the Harvey House.

Visitors from around the world have been coming to celebrate 100 years of the Mother Road.

Route 66 Museum has seen a big uptick now that the centennial's here, upwards of 3,000 people coming here every month.

Speaking of 100 years, the Barstow Fire Protection District is also celebrating its centennial this year.

“We're very, very proud of our organization and proud of the community for supporting the fire district for the last 100 years,” Barstow Fire Chief Cory Cisneros said."

Chief Cisneros took us around one of two fire stations in town.

The fire department was established well before the city to support the railroad, and eventually, the residents.

“I love the small community, I love this small town aspect and it's very, very homey and everyone knows everybody,” Cisneros said.

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