Santa Fe Rail Depot

The only original western terminus of the transcontinental railroad still standing

Address 922 W 23rd St, National City, CA 91950

Built in 1882 by Frank Kimball and finished in time for the inaugural Santa Fe transcontinental run in 1885, the depot is a low Stick-style wooden building with deep eaves and decorative bargeboards. It is the only original transcontinental railroad terminus still standing in the United States — every other 19th-century western terminus was demolished, burned, or rebuilt.

The depot is on the National Register of Historic Places and now houses a small railway museum and the offices of the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum. Opening hours are limited; the exterior is the main draw, but the interior preserves much of the original ticket office and waiting room.

things to do sight architecture
A story
The first train left this depot for Barstow on 7 February 1885, completing a southern transcontinental route that ran from Boston via Chicago and ended here, at the edge of San Diego Bay. The Kimball brothers had spent years lobbying the Santa Fe to choose National City over San Diego — and won, briefly, before larger rival lines pulled the terminus north.