National City Depot, Transcontinental Railroad

Frank Kimball gave the land and the subsidy to bring a railroad to National City, and the California Southern built north from here in 1881. Six months after the through line opened, forty inches of rain fell on Temecula Canyon and took out two thirds of the track. Ties washed up eighty miles out at sea. The line came back, the first transcontinental trains ran in November 1885, and a second flood in 1891 ended it. Santa Fe had already made Los Angeles its Pacific terminus. The depot is the lone survivor because the railroad left.

What the plaque says

National City Depot Transcontinental Railroad This National City California Southern Railroad depot, built in 1882, served as the first Pacific Coast terminus station of the Santa Fe Railway System's transcontinental railroad. The station was the west coast general office and figured prominently in Santa Fe's effort to break the economic and transportation monopoly of California held by the Central/Southern Pacific Railroad. The first transcontinental trains arrived in November 1885, resulting in one of the largest land booms in the history of California. Of the original five transcontinental railroad terminus stations, this unique Italianate designed station is the lone survivor. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 1023 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the City of National City and the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, Squibob Chapter, November 15, 1997

Where it stands

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