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Historic Name

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Station

Address

210 E A Street
Upland, CA 91786

Evaluation

Building
5/7/2007

Construction Date

1937

Current Owner

Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe RR Co.

Description

The former Santa Fe depot is a one-story building in the Spanish colonial revival style. Stucco sheathes the exterior and tile covers the front and side gabled roof. Located at the southeast corner of Second and A, just north of the tracks, the building consists of three parts. At the west end, flattened arched openings beneath a side gable define an outdoor waiting area. In the center, a taller wing is capped by a front gable and contains a recessed entry. Engaged columns frame the opening. Extending to the east, a side gable wing is fenestrated with a series of windows and multi-paned sash. What appears to be a flat-roofed addition is contiguous with the east wing. The building, now a retail store, appears to be substantially unaltered and in good condition.

In common with most Southern California communities, Upland and Ontario's growth and prosperity was highly dependant on its transportation and communication facilities. When the Ontario Colony was founded, downtown was located next to the Southern Pacific tracks. In 1887 the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe completed its connection adjacent to the newly founded Magnolia Tract in North Ontario. Subdividers of Magnolia, the Bedford Brothers, announced plans to erect a depot at the foot of Second Avenue, the primary business street. A notice in the December 1887 Ontario Record indicated that the cost of the station would be $7000. In the next decades numerous packing houses were built close to the tracks on both sides of A Street. Used for commuting of residents and tourists as well as for freight, the railroad linked Upland to Los Angeles to the west and the rest of the Santa Fe network to the east.

When Upland sought independent status from Ontario in 1906 a vociferous debate over which city should have the depot and tracks ensued. Upland did get to keep the depot, but the issue was not finally resolved until 1935. At that time, Upland annexed "No-man's land" from the tracks south to the present city boundary, and in so doing acquired Ontario's Santa Fe property and four packing houses. The present depot was built in 1937, the last of a series of Santa Fe stations in town. In 1907 the depot was still in the middle of the A Street and Second Avenue intersection. Its footprint on the Sanborn showed a waiting room on the west and freight depot on the east, with deep eaves surrounding the structure. By 1912 the station had expanded further to the east. The current building partakes of the Mission and Spanish styling that was preferred for a majority of the California stations. Although passenger service to Upland was discontinued in the late 1960s, the station was retained, the only remaining downtown station since the Pacific Electric ceased passenger operations on its tracks a couple of blocks to the north.