At the west end of the canyon are the ruins of the Vallejo Flour Mill, which dates to 1853.

The station was named after Central Pacific Railroad attorney Addison C. Niles, later a California Supreme Court judge.

The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum has exhibits, screenings, and events remembering its heritage.

This line was the original westernmost section of the First transcontinental railroad from Sacramento to San Francisco Bay (by way of Stockton and the Altamont Pass).

It was completed in September 1869[11] by the Western Pacific Railroad (1862–1870), but lost its transcontinental traffic in 1879 to a shorter route through Benicia.

This forced Western Pacific engineers to bore two tunnels and construct a steel bridge to lay their tracks.