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Historic Homes
Historic Home Detail | 412
Historic Name
Ontario and San Antonio Heiqhts Railroad Waiting Station
Address
2453 N Mountain Avenue
Upland, CA 91786
Evaluation
Building
5/9/2007
Construction Date
1903
Description
Set amidst the trees of San Antonio Park, the old waiting station
for the Ontario and San Antonio Heights Railway is a one-story
stone building influenced by the Romanesque Revival. A parapet
punctuated by pedestals edges the flat roof of the small, square
building. Large arched openings, their keystones, voussoirs,
imposts and drip moldings articulated in stone, pierce all four
sides. Battered buttresses reinforce the corners. A small
courtyard extends to one side, enclosed by a low stone wall with
cement coping. Although vacant and the roof deteriorated, the
station is mostly intact and in good condition.
The San Antonio Park Station of the Ontario and San Antonio
Heights Railway is usually said to have been built in 1903.
Organized in 1888, the company built a single horse car line
along the center of Euclid Avenue. Pulled by the famous mule
team "Moody and Sanky," the line connected the Southern Pacific
Station in Ontario in the south with San Antonio Heights in the
north. In 1895 the line was electrified, the "stone castle"
power station having been built in San Antonio Canyon for the
purpose. After a false start in October of that year the system
was successfully converted to electric power in December. The
Ontario Record reported:
"She Starts, She Moves, She Feels By Golly The Thrill
of Life Along the Trolley. After delays innumerable
and accident seemingly without end, the electric cars
are again in operation and gleesome gladness fills very
loyal Ontarian's heart."
Control of the majority of the Company stock was gained by the
Pacific Light and Power Company in 1902, headed by William G.
Kerckhoff. Then in 1912 the Pacific Electric Railway Company
purchased the line operating it until 1928. Service from Upland
junction to the park had ended in 1924.
It was in 1906 that the railway announced plans to construct a
new park near the mouth of San Antonio Canyon, intending to
extend the tracks west along 24th Street to Mountain. After
several right-of-way disputes were settled, the extension was
completed in March 1907. The cobblestone station was built as a
transfer point between the Euclid Avenue car and transportation
up San Antonio Canyon and Mount Baldy and was intended to service
a resort that the railway planned to develop.
In later years the station is said to have been used as a store
and a residence. A kitchen and bath were added; these were
apparently removed in the 1970s by the Upland Rotary Club. The
old waiting station was designated a California point of historic
interest in 1976.