A new walking tour of downtown San Rafael will line Fourth Street with signs carrying QR codes that link to photographs and stories in English and Spanish.

The Marin History Museum and the City of San Rafael will preview the project at a free public talk on Sept. 10 at 6:00 p.m. at the San Rafael Public Library, 1100 E St. Lori Deibel, a research librarian at the museum, and Walter Gonzalez Valdez, a management analyst in the City Manager's Office, will present the talk.

Gonzalez Valdez was named San Rafael's 2025 Employee of the Year, according to the city.

The tour stretches from the Union Depot, where the SMART train now stops, to the corner of Fourth and D streets, where one of San Rafael's early newspapers was published. The event listing on MarinArts.org describes 25 selected sites of historic interest along the route, though the museum's own tour page currently lists fewer.

Among the stops already detailed: the 1884 Union Station at 699 Fourth St., built by railroad owner Peter Donahue; the Borden Soda Fountain at 703 Fourth St.; the Marin County Courthouse at 1000 Fourth St.; and the Mahon Building at 1330 Fourth St. The last passenger train left the San Rafael depot on Nov. 10, 1958, ending 88 years of passenger service. The current C. Paul Bettini Transit Center opened in 1991 around the old station.

The walking tour grew out of a partnership formalized in September 2025, when the museum secured a three-year, no-rent contract for the historic Boyd Gate House from the city. In exchange, the museum agreed to install quarterly exhibits at City Hall, host public history events and create a virtual walking tour, the Marin Independent Journal reported. The project appears to have evolved from that virtual concept into physical signs with QR codes along Fourth Street.

"We're proud to host the Museum at the Boyd Gate House and support its ongoing efforts to share the stories that have shaped San Rafael and Marin County," Mayor Kate Colin said in September 2025, when the partnership was announced.