The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was a railroad founded on Sept. 5, 1883, by James F. Crank with the goal of bringing a rail line to

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

from downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was sold and consolidated on May 20, 1887 into the

California Central Railway The California Central Railway was incorporated on April 23, 1887, with headquarters in San Bernardino, California. George O. Manchester was the President of the corporation. At its peak it operated of rail line with 14 steam locomotives, 14 ...

. In 1889 this was consolidated into

Southern California Railway Southern California Railway was formed on November 7, 1889. it was formed by consolidation of California Southern Railroad Company, the California Central Railway Company, and the Redondo Beach Railway Company. A second consolidation and reformi ...

Company. On Jan. 17, 1906 Southern California Railway was sold to the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

and called the

Pasadena Subdivision The Pasadena Subdivision is the remnant branch line of the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) Los Angeles Second District. The line currently branches off of Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line at CP Cambridge in Claremont. The li ...

. The main line closed in 1994. The railroad later reopened as the MTA Gold Line Light Rail service in July 2003. LosAngelesandSanGabrieRailwayBridge

History

James F. Crank founded the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad on Sept. 5, 1883 with the goal of bringing a rail line to

from downtown

. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad sold stock to get funds to build the new rail line,

Lucky Baldwin Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin (April 3, 1828 – March 1, 1909) was "one of the greatest pioneers" of California business, an investor, and real estate speculator during the second half of the 19th century. He earned the nickname "Lucky" Baldwin d ...

purchased a large share of stocks, knowing the rail line would open markets for goods from his

Rancho Santa Anita Rancho Santa Anita was a land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given to naturalized Scottish immigrant Hugo Reid and his Kizh people wife. Reid built an adobe residence there in 1839, and the land grant was formally recognized ...

. James F. Crank's Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad had a slow start. The first

rail track A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...

was laid in Pasadena in 1884, but the first contractor went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

by the end of 1884. In January 1885, a new contractor started working on the line and the second rail bridge that was needed. A test train ran on Sept. 14 and on September 16, 1885. A grand celebration was held in Pasadena for the completion of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad from Downtown LA to Lamanda Park in

East Pasadena East Pasadena () is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 6,144 at the 2010 census, up from 6,045 at the 2000 census. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined ...

. The rail line went from downtown Los Angeles through the Arroyo Seco to Pasadena. The railroad train crossed the Arroyo Seco just north of

Garvanza Garvanza is a neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles. Fourteen Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are located in the neighborhood. History The town of Garvanza was originally part of the Rancho San Rafael, owned by Jose Maria Verdugo. Its na ...

in Highland Park. The first Pasadena Rail Station was built in 1887 was wooden structure, it was later replaced in 1934. The rail line started a boom in Pasadena, the

Hotel Green A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

was started by Edward C. Webster in 1887 and finished in 1888 by

George Gill Green George Gill Green (January 16, 1842 – February 26, 1925) was a patent medicine entrepreneur, and Union surgeon in the American Civil War. Biography George Gill Green was born in Clarksboro, New Jersey, to Mary Ann and Lewis M. Green. Gr ...

. The hotel patrons arrived by train at the adjacent Pasadena station. The hotel still stands on South Raymond Avenue in

Old Pasadena Old Pasadena, often referred to as Old Town Pasadena or just Old Town, is the original commercial center of Pasadena, a city in California, United States, and had a latter-day revitalization after a period of decay. Old Pasadena began as the ce ...

Rail_line_map_of_the_Los_Angeles_and_San_Gabriel_Valley_Railroad

Arroyo_Seco_Trestles_Rail_and_Street_Car_lines_from_Pasadena_to_downtown_LA

With the goal of connecting all of the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...

, in November 1886 the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad started building a line West from Mud Springs (what is now San Dimas). By January 1887 the rail had crossed the San Gabriel River in

Azusa Azusa may refer to: Relating to California From a Native American language, likely Tongva ''Asuksagna:'' *Azusa, California, a city in the United States *Azusa Pacific University, a Christian-based institution in Azusa, California *Azusa Street Rev ...

. In 1887 the line continued to

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

where a wooden structure rail station depot was built. This structure was replaced by the Santa Fe Depot, which was built in 1926. In February 1887, twenty land owners had a meeting with the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad in Judge Fiery's office. The meeting was about buying land to complete the rail line through Pomona. At the same meeting land was deeded for the rail line through Claremont by C.F. Loop and others. A rail station was built in Pomona, there was debate over whether to call it North Pomona Station, Palomares Station, or Palermo Station. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was sold and consolidated on May 20, 1887 into the

. In 1889 this was consolidated into

Company. There was a

land boom A real-estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real-estate markets, and typically follow a land boom. A land boom is the rapid increase ...

along the new rail line. In Mud Springs, the land boom resulted in the formation of the San Jose Ranch Company. San Jose Ranch Company and M. L. Wicks laid out streets. Small businesses opened in Mud Springs, and soon the city took its new name, San Dimas. The Azusa Land and Water Company sold land in Azusa. A new town near the tracks called Alosta popped, up near Azusa and Southern Glendora, developed by former Sheriff George Gard. The Monrovia Land and Water Company sold land in Monrovia. James F. Crank joined with William Newton Monroe and others in getting Rancho Santa Anita land from Lucky Baldwin in December 1885 to sell. The new rail line through the San Gabriel Valley was also a loom to the valley's citrus, nuts and fruit growers, with a new way to get their goods to market. The original 1887 Rancho Santa Anita station, later called the Arcadia Santa Fe Station was move to the

Fairplex Fairplex has been the home of the L.A. County Fair since 1922. Known prior to 1984 as the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, it is located in the city of Pomona, California. The L.A. County Fair is held during the month of May since 2022, but the fa ...

's Rail Giants museum in 1969. On Jan. 17, 1906 Southern California Railway was sold to the

and called the

. Lamanda Park had a rail station for goods and passengers. Since Lamanda Park had many citrus groves and vineyards, Lamanda Park also had a long side rail line to provided shipping for these goods.

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

ended the wineries. The last Lamanda Park citrus packer was Sierra-Madre Lamanda Park Citrus Association, they boxed oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit. The packing house was at the corner of Walnut Street and San Gabriel Boulevard. The side rail line also brought lumber to Lamanda Park and later cars to the local dealers. The main line closed in 1994, but reopened in July 2003 as the MTA Gold Line Light Rail service. ATSF 1890s passenger train

ATSF California Limited at Los Angeles circa 1899 William Henry Jackson photo

1885_Los_Angeles_and_San_GabrielValley_Railroad

Santa Fe

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...

and

Collis Potter Huntington Collis Potter Huntington (October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) was an American industrialist and railway magnate. He was one of the Big Four of western railroading (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who invested i ...

worked hard to keep the

Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

out of the San Gabriel Valley. But in May 1887, the first Santa Fe train rolled into

. Santa Fe had an expensive agreement to use Southern Pacific to run trains from Colton to Los Angeles. This agreement was used for a year and a half. With the May 20, 1887 sale of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad to the California Central Railway, (a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

railroad of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) the two lines where connected together at Mud Springs, completing the rail line from Chicago to Los Angeles through the San Gabriel Valley.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

ran the

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff ...

and

Desert Wind The ''Desert Wind'' was an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that ran from 1979 to 1997. It operated from Chicago to Los Angeles as a section of the ''California Zephyr'', serving Los Angeles via Salt Lake City; Ogden, Utah; and Las Vegas. ...

over this line, but relocated the Desert Wind to the Fullerton Line in 1986. The Santa Fe line served the San Gabriel Valley until 1994, when the

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximately ...

weakened the bridge in Arcadia. In the late 1990s construction of the Gold Line started and opened on July 26, 2003. Thus the old Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

(ROW) is still in use today. In 2013 construction on the old ROW started again with the

Gold Line Foothill Extension The Foothill Extension is an extension of the Los Angeles Metro Rail L Line light rail line from its former terminus in Pasadena, California, east through the "Foothill Cities" of Los Angeles County. The first stage of the plan, Phase 2A, exten ...

; the site of the original 1886 Monrovia Station is under construction. The line will continue to the site of the old Azusa Station, set to open in 2015. Santa Fe built a service line just south of the main line ''(The Second District of the AT&SF)'' in Pasadena, this ran along near Walnut Street from Eaton Canyon wash to Wilson Ave. This ROW has been sold off little by little. The raised grade for this line can still be seen on

Sierra Madre Boulevard Sierra Madre Boulevard is a long road connecting five suburbs of Pasadena, California; Arcadia, Sierra Madre, Hastings Ranch, East Pasadena, and San Marino. For the most part, it is a winding road divided by a grassy median, but the part betw ...

, just north

Colorado Boulevard Colorado Boulevard (or Colorado Street in Glendale and Arcadia) is a major east–west street in Southern California. It runs from Griffith Park in Los Angeles east through Glendale, the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Arcadia, ...

, near the VW dealer there. Lamanda Park had many citrus groves and vineyards, the station provided shipping for these goods.

ended the wineries. The last Citrus packer was Sierra-Madre Lamanda Park Citrus Association, they boxed oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit. The packing house was at the corner of Walnut Street and San Gabriel Boulevard. Service to Lamanda Park ended in the 1950s. The service line stopped at

lumber yard A lumber yard is a location where lumber and wood-related products used in construction and/or home improvement projects are processed or stored. Some lumber yards offer retail sales to consumers, and some of these may also provide services suc ...

s and car dealers in Pasadena till it was abandoned in 1980. Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge

Notes

References

railgiants.org, Santa Fe Station, Arcadia CA, circa 1887
* Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History, By Ann Scheid, Ann Scheid Lund, page 31-32.
Abandon Rail Line, The Second District of the AT&SFmonroviacc.com, Monrovia at 125: “Trees, Trains, Troubles, and Triumphs.” By Steve BakerDigital Library Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad Depot at Alison Street and Anderson Street, Los Angeles, 1884Photo, Stock in Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad History of Pomona Valley, California, with Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women of the Valley Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present, HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY ,LOS ANGELES, CAL. 1920
*"The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad." by Hoyt, Franklyn., Pacific Historical Review 20 (August 1951): 227-239 *California History, VOLUME LXVII NO. 1-4 1988, CONTENTS, California Historical Society SAN FRANCISCO • LOS ANGELES • SAN MARINO, NUMBER 1— MARCH 1988
LA Mag., CityDig: Monrovia's 1887 Real Estate Bubble 2/12/2014 by Glen Creason
{{DEFAULTSORT:California Southern Railroad Defunct California railroads Predecessors of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Transportation in Los Angeles County, California Transportation in Pasadena, California Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) San Gabriel Valley History of Los Angeles County, California History of Pasadena, California Railway companies established in 1883 Railway companies disestablished in 1887 1883 establishments in California 1887 disestablishments in California 19th century in Los Angeles History of Southern California American companies disestablished in 1887 American companies established in 1883

History

Santa Fe

See also

Notes

References