The Southern Pacific Railroad

If you like your old dilapidated depot, you can keep it; but if you want a new one, you’ll have to close I Street.  Those were the sentiments of the S. P. Railroad in response to the local Businessmen’s request in 1909.  The current depot was actually a freight depot built when the original 1870 depot burned in 1884.

After the Board of Trade built the Arch, adopted a new City Charter, and launched a campaign to attract new settlers to the area, they wanted a better depot to greet people.  In 1914, the Modesto Chamber of Commerce filed a complaint with the California Railroad Commission concerning a replacement site for the old depot and a new design.  The Commission ruled the S. P. Railroad had until November 1, 1915, to complete a new depot in Modesto.  The Railroad then proposed closing J Street instead of I Street, and the proposition was put on the ballot for the vote of the citizens.  It took two ballots before it passed.

The Railroad’s own Chief Engineer John Q. Barlow, was responsible for the popular Mission Style design, and San Francisco contractor George A. Bos, an expert in concrete and steel construction, built the station using local workers.  The contract price was $9,720, and construction began July 12, 1915.The depot opened with great celebration December 11, 1915.  It was used by the railroad until 1971, and in 1994 it became the City Transportation Center.