page_title: Fremont, California
section_title: Niles District
hierarchical_section_title: Fremont, California / Geography / Niles District
caption_attribution_description: English: A scene in front of the Corrie Glass shoppe in Historic Niles during the Art Walk event of 2005.
context_page_description: Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the annexation of Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San José, and Warm Springs. The city is named after John C. Frémont, an American explorer and former US Senator and Military Governor of California.
  Located in the southern end of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Fremont has a growing population of around 240,000. It is one of the largest cities by land area and the fourth most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area, behind San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. It directly borders and is the closest East Bay city to Silicon Valley as formally defined, and is thus often associated with it. In the 2010s, the city's technology sector experienced rapid growth.
  The area consisting of Fremont and the cities of Newark and Union City is known collectively as the Tri-City Area; different from the adjacent Tri-Valley area encompassing Pleasanton, Dublin, and Livermore.
context_section_description: The town is physically divided from other parts of Fremont and neighboring Union City by Mission Boulevard (State Route 238) to the east and north, Alameda Creek to the south, Union Pacific Railroad to the west and southeast, and the Quarry Lakes to the southwest. The hills of Niles are lower than those of the area south of the Alameda Creek in Mission San Jose. Old Town Niles features its own library, post office, and silent movie theater as well as a large number of antique and craft stores. Niles is located at 37°34′44″N 121°58′40″W. It lies at an elevation of 112 feet (34 m).
  The community, once called Vallejo Mills, got its name from the Central Pacific Railroad's Niles depot, built in 1870 as part of the First transcontinental railroad and named after their railroad attorney and stockholder Addison Niles, who became associate justice on the California Supreme Court two years later. A post office was opened at Niles in 1873.
  Niles was the home of one of the first West Coast motion picture companies, Essanay Studios. Charlie Chaplin and Broncho Billy Anderson filmed some of their most famous silent movies in Niles. Scenic Niles Canyon stretches between Niles and Sunol. The nonprofit Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum offers both artifacts of Niles' early years and each Saturday evening, screenings of early-twentieth-century silent films, many of which were filmed locally.
  The Niles Canyon Railway runs along Alameda Creek in Niles Canyon and carries passengers on weekend excursions, including a holiday "train of lights", which is extremely popular – tickets for these trains typically sell out by early October. The Niles Canyon Railroad has a small but well-maintained collection of historic rail stock.
  Part of historic Niles is Mayhew Spring, also known as Mayhew's Sulphur Spring, which was located 600 feet (180 m) north of the Niles railroad depot. The facility was owned by H.A. Meyhew.
  The coast-to-coast completion of the Transcontinental Railroad is reported to have occurred in nearby Niles Canyon. In September 1869, four months after the famous golden spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah, the Central Pacific Railroad completed the transcontinental rail link between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay, finishing the track through the canyon. The Central Pacific had acquired the Western Pacific and other local railroads and built track to connect them at a waterfront terminal at Alameda Point.
  Also part of Niles is Niles Junction on the Western Pacific Railroad, located at 37°34′35″N 121°58′17″W and situated at an elevation of 79 ft (24 m).
  Of special note is the annual antique fair and flea market which takes place on the last Sunday in August. The entire town turns out with things to sell as early as Saturday morning, with bargain hunters from the Bay Area and beyond visiting in search of bargains. Niles is also home to the Fremont Gurdwara, which serves the large American Sikh community of Fremont as a religious shrine open to not only Sikhs but also everyone, regardless of their caste and religion.
caption: Niles Art Walk 2005
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