4/13/05

Claremont's third and last depot, the replacement for the original 1887 Santa Fe Gothic or Victorian style depot and a second Classic Revival concrete-poured station built in 1917 to service the Pacific Electric Trolley & some freight for the Southern Pacific , served the railroad until 1967.  Forty years after it had been built (1927), and even after it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, it sat vacant.  In December of 1989, the building was purchased by the city and the restoration project was underway. After sitting idle for 25 years, the depot was reborn in 1992 as part of the Claremont Transit Center.

  The Transit Center now offers local Bus and Dial-a-Ride connections to Metrolink service, west to Los Angeles and east to San Bernardino.

    The front of the station clearly shows the Spanish Colonial Revival Style, reminiscent of the architecture made popular by the Pan American Exposition in San Diego's Balboa Park.  Both the north and south entrances to the waiting room features highly decorated, 2-story, concrete portals. The thick plaster walls, painted wooden window grilles, Moorish arches and red tile roof are typical of this architectural style.

  The portal's heavy wooden doors are carved with the distinctive Santa Fe cross logo.

Inside the waiting room are the building's most interesting architectural details - the stenciled beamed ceiling, wooden balconies under the multi-light windows a wrought iron ticket window and decorative hand-crafted tile band around the entire waiting room.

On the platform (south) side of the depot, the original restored clock is the most distinctive feature.

Thirty-four Metrolink commuter trains stop here on weekdays with an abbreviated Saturday schedule of 16 & 8 on Sundays.

Double tracked in 2003/2004 to handle increased number of scheduled trains and the anticipated trains from Pasadena sometime in 2006.