El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Depot and Park
Posted by: 
rambles
N 32° 13.214 W 110° 58.700
12S E 502041 N 3564847
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad was a regional railroad used mainly to haul copper for the mines and, after declining revenues became part of Southern Pacific and eventually disappeared leaving unused tracks and old depots.
Waymark Code: WM3E15
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 03/21/2008
Views: 65
The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad started in 1888 as a thirty six mile long railroad from the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, Arizona to connect with the Santa Fe's Arizona & New Mexico Railroad at Fairbank, AZ. It was called the Arizona & Southeastern Railroad. It was mainly used to transport copper from Bisbee to a refinery in El Paso, TX. On June 25th, 1901 the Phelps Dodge Corp. formed El Paso & Southwestern Railroad Company and transferred the Arizona & Southeastern Railroad to the EP&SW. In 1912 it was extended to Tucson AZ as one of many branches.
Following WWI the price of copper dropped causing traffic in Arizona to be drastically reduced. In 1924 Phelps Dodge sold the EP&SW to Southern Pacific. The 'southline' as the route to Tucson was called continued to drop and in 1961 the line ceased to exist.
The Southern Pacific route is different through Tucson and the old EP&SW depot and tracks were abandoned. The depot is currently used for offices and a restaurant and some major interior renovations are being done. If you peak through the glass of the front door you can see some beautiful stained glass (http://home.earthlink.net/~pmcclosky/epsw.louvanwinkle.html). It located between the huge, new courthouse and the acres of parking next to I-10 but has a nice little park between itself and the courthouse.
You can also follow quite a bit of the track for several blocks north and south of the depot where they survive due to running near I-10. Part of the tracks south of the depot are being turned into a greenway to give bike and pedestrian access from South Tucson to downtown Tucson (http://dot.ci.tucson.az.us/planning/pdfs/GREENWAY%20FACT%20SHEET10-07.pdf).
Street address:
419 W Congress St
Tucson, AZ US
85701
County / Borough / Parish: Pima
Year listed: 2004
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1900-1949
Historic function: Transportation
Current function: Commerce/restaurant
Privately owned?: yes
Season start / Season finish: From: 08/18/2013 To: 08/18/2013
Hours of operation: From: 12:00 AM To: 12:00 AM
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
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