Gillespie’s Store
[Front of Marker:]
IN SEARCH OF THE PONY EXPRESS
STATION MARKER
Dedicated April 23, 1997
GILLESPIE’S STORE
Added Station
Apr 23, 1860 – Sep 8, 1861
by
Dave & Buff Fleming
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Vacaville Chamber of Commerce
Pony Express Trail Association
[A list of donors is on bottom of base.
[Back of marker:]
Gillespie’s Store stood at this spot. This was also a Wells, Fargo & Co. Office. E. F. Gillespie was their first agent in Vacaville.
There would only be 2 trips overland by horse to San Francisco from Sacramento in 1860. In 1861, this would be repeated another 18 times. On the first trip the Pony Express rider Sam Hamilton took the Yolo Plank Turnpike across tule swampland, crossed the Putah Creek, and made his first stop for another horse at the Solano House.
His next destination was the halfway house where a red lantern would hang high as a beacon at Silveyville. Then with another relay change he rode off to Vacaville
and Gillespie’s store. When he arrived here it was around 4:00 A.M. and he left within a few minutes on another fresh horse.
1997 Nardone
[A list of donors is on bottom of base.]
Marker is at the intersection of Merchant Street and Main Street, on the right when traveling north on Merchant Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
