Santa Fe Freight Depot

When two railroads meet, someone has to move the freight from one to the other, and this 1929 depot is where Phoenix did it. Built of reinforced concrete by the Santa Fe at the exact point where its line touched the Southern Pacific, the only such junction in Arizona, the freight house handled the trade goods passing between the two systems. It anchored the Jackson Street warehouse district that grew up along the tracks, the unglamorous machinery of a city that fed itself and the mines by rail.

What the plaque says

The Santa Fe Freight Depot was constructed in 1929 by the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company. The depot is a unique example of a reinforced concrete structure. Like other buildings on Jackson Street, the freight depot reflects the commercial and warehouse development that took place along the railroad tracks. The depot is built along the point where the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads met, the only place in Arizona where the two major railroads were connected. The depot was important for the transferal of trade goods between the two railroads. Phoenix's warehouse district developed in the area because of the importance of this connection point.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Phoenix — 0.4 mi
  The fifth-largest US city, built on the canals of a thousand-year-old one
• Heard Museum — 1.9 mi
  The Native Southwest, told in the first person
• Taliesin West — 18 mi
  Frank Lloyd Wright's desert masterwork, grown from the ground it stands on

More markers nearby

• Chambers Transfer & Storage Company Building — steps away
• J. W. Walker/Central Arizona Light & Power Building — 0.3 mi
• Maricopa County Courthouse — 0.3 mi
• Duppa Homestead — 0.4 mi