History of the Southern Pacific Railway Station here in Pomona

The Amtrak station at Pomona consists of a platform near the historic depot, which was built in 1940 to replace an early Southern Pacific Railway structure that sat on the main lines running from Los Angeles to New Orleans and Salt Lake City. The building, designed in the popular Mission Revival style, includes a central tower and arcade which are covered in tan stucco and capped with red tile roofs. The station is also served by Metrolink commuter rail service, which provides connections to Los Angeles on its Riverside Line, as well as city buses. A few years ago, the city, which owns the station, constructed a pedestrian bridge over the tracks; it is also popular with rail fans that enjoy watching and photographing the passing Union Pacific freight trains.

The area today occupied by Pomona was originally part of the grazing lands associated with the 18th century Spanish colonial mission of San Gabriel. After Mexico won its independence from Spain, two soldiers who had fought in the war were granted many thousands of acres in the area in 1837. For many decades they worked the land, raising crops and grazing cattle, and today one can tour the 1850s adobe home of Don Ygnacio Palomares, one of the two original rancho owners.

After California was admitted to the United States in 1850, settlers began to migrate from the east; the movement became especially strong after the Civil War, driven by the arrival of the railroads. In the late 1870s, the Southern Pacific built its main line through the area, and a group of land speculators in Los Angeles purchased and subdivided the land around the tracks– the town of Pomona was born. A decade later, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad would also build a line to the north of the settlement, increasing options for moving people and goods.

For the classically minded, the city’s name indicates its history: Pomona was the ancient Roman goddess of fruit, and the name was suggested by a horticulturalist who won the city naming contest. By the 1880s, the area resembled a large citrus grove, thanks to water moved in by aqueduct. In addition to citrus, grapes and olives were also major crops. The railroads would carry Southern California’s produce across the country in wooden crates with colorful labels that many art collectors covet.

In 1888, the city was incorporated and blossomed into a prosperous agricultural and commercial center for the eastern San Gabriel Valley. Even today, it still hosts the world’s largest county fair on the grounds of the Fairplex. Visitors to the Fairplex may find the Southern California Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, established in Pomona in 1953. The organization maintains a vintage 1895 Santa Fe depot, locomotives, and rolling stock for the train enthusiast. The city also is home to the California State Polytechnic University, known for its engineering and architecture programs, as well as agricultural research—an important center for one of the state’s most vital industries.