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

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 commerci ...

from downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, the line opened in 1886. 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 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 largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

and called the Pasadena Subdivision. 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

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 d ...

from downtown

. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad sold stock to get funds to build the new rail line, Lucky Baldwin purchased a large share of stocks, knowing the rail line would open markets for goods from his Rancho Santa Anita. James F. Crank's Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad had a slow start. The first

rail track Railway track ( and UIC terminology) or railroad track (), also known as permanent way () or "P way" ( and Indian English), is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers (railroad ties in American E ...

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 de ...

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. 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 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 was started by Edward C. Webster in 1887 and finished in 1888 by George Gill Green. 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 simply Old Town, is the original commercial center of Pasadena, California, Pasadena, a city in California, United States, and had a latter-day revitalization after a period of decay. Ol ...

Rail_line_map_of_the_Los_Angeles_and_San_Gabriel_Valley_Railroad

With the goal of connecting all of the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...

, 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 refers to a ground-based radar tracking system installed at Cape Canaveral, Florida and the NASA Kennedy Space Center. AZUSA was named after the southern California town Azusa, California where the system was devised in the early 1950s. ...

. In 1887 the line continued to

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

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 Southern California Railway Company. There was a land boom 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 LAPD Chief and Los Angeles County 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 moved to the

Fairplex The 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 th ...

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

and called the Pasadena Subdivision. 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 b ...

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.

Santa Fe

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...

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 ...

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 largest Railroad classes, Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight tra ...

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 (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

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 intercity 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 Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and American Southwest ...

and Desert Wind 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 affected Greater Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment 6.7 () blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds ...

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

right of way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

(ROW) is still in use today. In 2013 construction on the old ROW started again with the Gold Line Foothill Extension project; the site of the original 1886 Monrovia station is under construction. The line will continue to the site of the old Azusa station, which opened in 2016. 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, just north

Colorado Boulevard Colorado Boulevard (or Colorado Street in Glendale, California, Glendale and parts of Arcadia, California, Arcadia) is a major east–west street in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It runs from Griffith Park in Los Angeles east ...

, 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 s ...

s and car dealers in Pasadena till it was abandoned in 1980. 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
/ref>

Photo gallery

File:ATSF 1890s passenger train.jpg, An AT&SF

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

in operation, File:ATSF California Limited at Los Angeles circa 1899 William Henry Jackson photo.jpg, Santa Fe California Limited in Los Angeles, California with engine No. 53 at the LA's La Grande Station File:Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge.JPG, Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge with a Gold line Tram crossing, this the 3rd bridge at the site of the original 1886 Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad bridge, 2013 File:Rail_sideline_LamandaPark_California.jpg, Right of Way of the Lamanda Park rail side line, used in past to load Lamanda Park's Wine and Citrus for market at Foothill and Walnut Image:HotelGreen-1900.jpg, Hotel Green, 1900, with bridge to the Pasadena rail station File:Arroyo_Seco_Trestles_Rail_and_Street_Car_lines_from_Pasadena_to_downtown_LA.jpg, Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railway and Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad train in the Arroyo Seco, 1895

References

Photo, 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
*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
{{refend 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

Photo gallery

See also

References