SoCal Landmarks

SoCal Landmarks

A Photography Project

Santa Anita Santa Fe Depot, Arcadia, Los Angeles County

Santa Anita Santa Fe Depot

The Santa Anita Train Depot in what is now Arcadia was built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1890 and served as a major stop for both passenger and freight trains. It was described in the local Sierra Madre newspaper in August, 1890, as “an elaborate two-story depot built with one hundred thousand bricks from the nearby E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin brick yard.” Baldwin donated right-of-way and as well as the bricks in exchange for an agreement to stop trains, maintain a depot and provide for a post office in station. The depot fell into disrepair after it was closed, but was saved from demolition by local activists and moved about a quarter of a mile onto the LA County Arboretum grounds. Relocation and reconstruction in 1970 included fifty yards of Santa Fe standard gauge track laid in front of the Depot by members of the Monrovia Model Railroad Club.

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Arcadia, Los Angeles County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt