According to the website Southern Pacific Transportation Company - Depots, Freight Houses, and Line-side Structures, by Art Fisher (
visit link) , the Kingsburg Depot is a Southern Pacific Common Standard number 18.
From the website of the Kingsburg Chamber of Commerce (
visit link) -
Kingsburg, like many towns in the Central Valley, owes its existence to the railroad. In 1871, the Central Pacific Railroad established the first depot at this location and called it the Kings River Switch. The first building was a wooden shed 12 by 16 feet; the first station agent was L.A. Marshall. The present depot, located on Draper and California Streets, was dedicated in May of 1923. In the early days Kingsburg was also called Draperville and Wheatville. None of these names suited the postal authorities and in December of 1875 the name Kingsburg was chosen. Shortly after the depot was built in 1871, Josiah Draper was commissioned to draw up plans for the town. The first business of the railroad was cattle and wheat shipping. Later, with the development of the refrigerator car, the wealth of the valley’s produce was to be shipped nationwide. The year 1962 saw the last passenger train service to Kingsburg, with the discontinuance of “The Owl”. On April 30, 1971, the last streamliner, “The Daylight”, passed through Kingsburg, ending all passenger service in the valley for nearly two decades. The passenger station became the Chamber of Commerce and the Historical Society of Kingsburg ran a museum for several years in the freight station. Today it has been declared a historical monument.
From the Friends of the Historic Kingsburg Depot website (link below), Del Monte letter -
An example of 19th Century Stick Style architecture, the depot is more than 130 years old, and is one of only eleven Benicia-style depots standing today. In its heyday, the depot was the heart and soul of the railroad town in which it stood, serving as the economic engine that fueled both the birth and growth of the town. “The depot will become a regional Living Museum and Learning Center”, said Larry E. Esau, President of Friends of the Historic Kingsburg Depot, “a hands-on educational experience teaching visitors about how the railroad accelerated the westward expansion of pioneers into California and caused the development of commercial agriculture and fruit processing companies serving distant markets.” The restored Depot will also serve as a venue for festivals and special events and become a Transportation and Visitor Center for bus and rail passengers.
From the Friends of the Historic Kingsburg Depot website (link below), Project Summary -
In February 2005 the City of Kingsburg obtained ownership of the Depot after many years of negotiations with three successive railroad companies. Thanks to the generosity of the Union Pacific Railroad, the Depot is finally under local control. The Depot is the oldest building in Kingsburg and the very reason for the town’s existence. It’s had no maintenance for over 20 years and needs immediate help, but it’s a California treasure, one of eleven “Benicia” type stick-style depots still in existence, a design that predates Southern Pacific Common Standard types. The Kingsburg Depot is one of the last surviving touchstones of physical contact with the lives of the pioneers that settled the Valley. With the rapid pace of development in the central San Joaquin Valley today, many historical sites and landmarks are being lost to future generations. Restoration of the 1876 Kingsburg Depot is an opportunity to save and use an original historic site to serve our children today and into the future.
The original name of Kingsburg was Kings River Switch, based on its original design as a locomotive switching point for the railroad. The site was established by the Central Pacific Railroad’s Central Valley Survey in 1872. The surveyors included future California governor Leland Stanford, and they camped here on the bank of the Kings River. They placed the Kings River Switch site on high ground 100 yards north of the high water mark of the unruly Kings River at flood stage. That high water mark is approximately the current site of the 18th Avenue overpass on Highway 99.
Flood waters often covered the floor of the marshy Central Valley in early days, and trains running on elevated grades were sometimes the only means of transportation before flood-control dams were built. The Southern Pacific grade through Kingsburg was built by hand and horse-drawn scraper in 1873 and 1874, and one can only marvel at the great height and width of the grade as it approaches the Kings River crossing. It begins building at 18th Avenue and stretches south many miles through Traver and the Cross Creek lowlands. The Kings River was a serious obstacle for the Railroad, and Kings River Switch became the end of the Valley Line for nearly a year while the Kings River Trestle was built. Many of the men who built the Valley Line had also worked on the Transcontinental Railroad through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and they knew how to handle difficult obstacles. Most of the line south to Tehachapi was completed by the time the Kings River Trestle was opened to join the north and south portions. The dirt wagon road that developed next to the grade during construction is now known as State Highway 99.
Kings River Switch quickly became a busy center of commerce where wheat and cattle were loaded onto trains. The depot was a natural meeting place for early citizens. Local newspapers received their stories by means of Western Union and the railroad telegraph, so latest news was always available first at the depot. The telegraph remained the only means of communication in the Valley for nearly 50 years, and anyone wanting to communicate with the outside world had to go see the Western Union telegrapher at the Depot. All these things made the depot the heart of the town.
The first railroad agent assigned to Kings River Switch was named Marshall, and he led the drive to rename the town Kingsburg in 1875 to give the place a little more respectability. Agent Marshall was also the postmaster, a convenient arrangement since all mail was carried by train. The town began to grow, and in 1876 the Railroad erected a large two-story combination freight and passenger depot in the “Benicia-style.” The second-story rooms were the living quarters for Agent Marshall. The Kingsburg Depot with its 56 large windows for natural lighting was in daily operation with supplemental gas lighting for almost 50 years before rural electrification. The depot’s windmill driven water well and elevated storage tank next to the tracks were also the town’s first water system.