PERRIS DEPOT HABS CA-2910 120 West Fourth Street HABS CA-2910 Perris Riverside County

PHOTOGRAPHS

WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY PACIFIC WEST REGIONAL OFFICE U.S. Department of the Interior 333 Bush Street , CA 94104 HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY

PERRIS DEPOT

HABS No. CA-2910

Location: 120 West Fourth Street Perris, CA 92570

Latitude: 33°46'57.3"N Longitude: 117°13'45.8"W

Present Owner: Orange Empire Railway Museum, Inc. 2201 S A Street Perris, CA 92570

Present Use: Perris Valley Historical Museum

Significance: The Perris Depot is significant for its role in the economic and social development of Perris. The Perris Depot is also significant as an excellent example of High Queen Anne-style architecture, and for its connection to James W. Nance, a prominent Perris builder and investor.

Historian: Nathaniel Heilmann, Intern Margo Nayyar, Architectural Historian California Department of Transportation Division of Environmental Analysis Cultural Studies Office 1120 N Street Sacramento, CA 95814

Project Information: The Perris Depot recordation was completed as one of the mitigation measures for the State Route 74 widening project. The Perris Depot was determined eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on February 3, 1989 under Criterion A and C for its role in the development of the City of Perris’s economic growth, and as a distinctive and exemplary example of Queen Anne commercial architecture. Its period of significance is 1892-1944. The Perris Depot was subsequently listed in the NRHP on August 5, 1994.

Date: June 2015 PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 2)

Part I. Physical Information

A. Physical History

1. Date of Construction: 1892

Articles from the Redlands Citrograph dated January 16 and March 19, 1892 detail the construction and celebration of the opening of the depot in 1892.1 Furthermore, the August 1892 Perris Sanborn Map depicts the Depot.2

2. Architect: Benjamin Franklin Levet, Sr.

Benjamin Franklin Levet, Sr. (1864-1949)3 was born in Butte, California and became a civil engineer and architect for the Atchison, Pacific and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe Railway). By 1890, at the age of 26, he had been credited for designing numerous railway depots throughout Southern California, including the San Juan Capistrano and Mentone depots. Specializing in various revival styles of architecture, Levet’s buildings were described as Moorish Arabian, Victorian or Gothic. In 1893, he designed the Le Grande Station in , the principal station for the Santa Fe railway system.4 The unique Moorish dome and the red brick construction was a local and nationally recognized feature until the 1933 Long Beach earthquake which irreparably damaged the station, forcing its closure.5

Levet married Florence M. Perris (1867-1946)6 on September 27, 1890, becoming the son-in-law to Frederick T. Perris, Chief Engineer for the Santa Fe Railway.7

3. Original Owner/Use: California Southern Railroad

The California Southern Railroad (CSR) was a subsidiary railroad of the Santa Fe Railway located in Southern California. Chartered on October 12, 1880 the company

1 The Citrograph (Redlands, CA), January 16 1892; The Citrograph (Redlands, CA), March 19 1892, on file at the Perris Valley Historical Association and Library. 2 Sanborn – Perris Map Company, Limited, Perris 1892 [map], 50 ft. to an inch, “Digital Sanborn Maps – 1867 – 1970 – Sacramento Public Library,” accessed April 13, 2015, http://0-sanborn.umi.com.www.saclibrarycatalog.org/. 3 Ancestry.com, California, Death Index, 1940-1997 [database on-line] Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Electronic resource accessed April 1, 2015. 4 “National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) Registration Form: Perris Depot,” National Park Service, July 5, 1994, 1, electronic resource, http://www.nps.gov/nr/research/, accessed various. The NRHP nomination did not include footnotes stating the sources. Sources used are in the bibliography. 5 Nathan Masters, “Lost Train Depots of Los Angeles” KCET Los Angeles (January 17, 2013), accessed April 6, 2015, http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/lost-train-depots-of-los-angeles.html; Southern California Institute of Architecture, “On the History of the Santa Fe Freight Depot, Los Angeles,” accessed April 6, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20060427000402/http://www.sciarc.edu/v5/about/freightyard.php. 6 FamilySearch.org, “Benjamin F. Levet and Florence M. Perris California, County Marriages, 1850-1952,” accessed April 6, 2015, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLZP-H25. 7 “NRHP Registration Form: Perris Depot,” National Park Service, July 5, 1994, electronic resource, accessed various, http://www.nps.gov/nr/research/. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 3)

sought to build a rail connection between National City, south of , to Barstow, approximately 185 miles north along the Southern Pacific Railroad, a segment of the transcontinental railroad connecting California to Illinois.8 The Transcontinental Railroad connected the east and west coasts by transporting goods and passengers across the country. Local economies along the route relied on the railroad to import and export their goods. The railroad had the ability to build an economy, or destroy it by leaving.

The railroad connection between Barstow and San Diego gave San Diego the opportunity to transport goods along the transcontinental railroad. Construction began in National City at the end of 1881, and proceeded northward to the present day cities of Oceanside, Fall Brook, Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Perris, Riverside, Colton and Barstow. The tracks between National City northeast to Colton, through Perris, were completed in March 1882. The tracks between Colton to Barstow were completed on November 9, 1885, effectively connecting Southern California to the Transcontinental Railroad.9

A massive flood in February 1884 damaged the CSR rail running between San Diego and Temecula, effectively cutting off the city of San Diego from rail service. The company laid off nearly all of its employees on March 19, and by July defaulted on its first mortgage bond. The Santa Fe bailed out the CSR with the purchase and transfer of bonds, and by repairing the damage between San Diego and Temecula. By November of 1884, the Santa Fe officially announced the CSR as a subsidiary company of the Santa Fe.10

The CSR, as a branch line off the Transcontinental Railroad, created a land boom throughout Southern California; however, this boom did not translate into the success that the Santa Fe envisioned. For all the advantages as part of a Transcontinental Railroad, San Diego could not match the growth of its rival city, Los Angeles. Los Angeles’ population doubled in size during the boom years from 50,000 to 100,000, and the Los Angeles Port received four times the amount of cargo ships that San Diego received. Beginning in 1886, due to the 1884 flood and the growth of Los Angeles, the CSR used Los Angeles as its major western port.11

The CSR continued to operate the interior line from Barstow south into San Diego until the creation of the “Surf Line” in 1888, which connected Los Angeles to

8 L. H. Haney, A Congressional History of Railways in the United States, 1850-1887, Issues 1-2, (Madison, WS: Democrat Printing Company, 1910), 152; 9 Richard Dodge, “Perris and it’s Railroad,” Dispatcher: Railway Historical Society of San Diego, California 29 (November 15, 1959), accessed various, http://www.oerm.org/sites/default/files/Perris%20and%20its%20Railroad%20sm2.pdf. 10 Douglas L. Lowell, “The California Southern Railroad and the Growth of San Diego, Part 1,” San Diego Historical Society Quarterly Vol. 31 no. 4 (Fall 1985), accessed March 30, 2015, http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/85fall/railroad.htm. 11 Lowell, “The California Southern Railroad.” PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 4)

Oceanside. 12 South of Oceanside, the Surf Line utilized CSR’s tracks into San Diego.13 A disastrous 1891 flood in Temecula Canyon destroyed the railroad line between Temecula and Fallbrook Junction, a vital link for the CSR’s interior line to Barstow. This time Santa Fe decided not to rebuild and the segment of track between Temecula to Fallbrook Junction was abandoned.14 In consequence, the direct line between Barstow and San Diego was no longer extant and rail traffic was required to deliver between Barstow, west to Los Angeles, and then south to San Diego.15

While not ideal for San Diego, Perris’s direct railroad line to Barstow, and the Transcontinental Railroad, remained intact. Perris’s growth and commerce was directly attributed to its connection to the Transcontinental Railroad. The CSR, between Barstow and Perris, was officially reclassified from a mainline to a branch line in 1889.16

4. Contractor: James W. Nance

James W. Nance was born in Charles County, Tennessee in 1852. He began his career as a cotton planter and general merchandise merchant. He married Laura C. Rodgers (1855-1938)17 in 1874. They had two daughters, Evelyn and Harriet, in 1882 and 1898, respectively.18

After spending six years in the Mississippi Valley, Nance contracted malaria and, in the humid Mississippi climate, his health deteriorated. Finding no relief in the mountains of his native Tennessee, he and his family moved to San Diego, California in June 1882. Three months later they moved to Los Angeles, and when his health continued to decline he turned to his physician, Doctor Worthington, who advised him to relocate to a very dry and high altitude climate. Nance traveled to Perris Valley in Riverside County in hopes of finding relief. 19

Arriving in the treeless valley plains, he fell enamored with the land and immediately purchased 200 acres of land for $1 with a $1,999 mortgage, and began farming.

12 Dodge, “Perris and it’s Railroad,” 2. 13 James N. Price, “The Railroad Stations of San Diego County: Then and Now,” Journal of San Diego History Vol. 34, No. 2 (Spring 1988), accessed April 28, 2015, http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/88spring/railroad.htm. 14 “Temecula Railroad” City of Temecula, accessed April 1, 2015, http://www.cityoftemecula.org/Temecula/History/TemeculaRailroad.htm. 15 Lowell, “The California Southern Railroad,” http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/85fall/railroad.htm. 16 Lowell, “The California Southern Railroad,” http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/85fall/railroad.htm. 17 “Laura C. Nance,” Findagrave.com, last modified February 8, 2008, accessed March 30, 2015, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=24683687. 18 FamilySearch.org, “James Nance, United States Census, 1900,” accessed various, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9PJ-CW5; Lewis Publishing Company, An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890), 355-356. 19 Elmer Wallace Holmes, History of Riverside County: With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present (Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1912), 143. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 5)

Sowing his new land with barley he made $4,000 in his first harvest and expanded his holdings. By 1878, he owned 1,120 acres of land. He purchased the Perris Hotel before its completion, invested in the buying and shipping of grain and lumber and dealt in real estate and banking.20

Known in some circles as the founder of Perris, Nance utilized his wealth to develop the township. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s Nance worked to finance and donated land for the development of the town. In 1888, Nance financed the construction of a new brick schoolhouse, and by the end of the decade helped construct two churches.21 Nance also donated 80 acres of land to the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) for building the Perris Indian School, in December of 1890. The OIA initially accepted the deed but after advisement, the OIA returned the deed to Nance until both the Attorney- General and California state legislature consented to the transfer.22

Nance also financed and oversaw the construction of the Perris Depot. A January 16, 1892 article in the Redlands Citrograph detailed the construction progress by stating:

J.W. Nance has now 15 men at work on the new brick depot and the work will be pushed rapidly. The foundation is all in and the floor is being laid. In sixty days the building will be ready for occupancy and Perris will be able to boast of the finest depot on the Santa Fe road!23

5. Original Plans and Construction: This one-story, Queen Anne-style railroad depot was originally built in 1892. The northern wing of the building served as the depot’s baggage and waiting room. The center and bay window housed the ticket office, main entrance and freight office. The southern and largest wing housed the freight room.24

6. Alterations and Additions: The Depot was renovated for seismic stabilization in 2007-2008. Seismic stabilization included roof and cupola reconstruction, and foundation work.

Roof reconstruction included a complete reconstruction of the eaves, replacement of large portions of the roof and the replacement of shingles except for conservation of original shingles adorning the freight room. The chimney required reconstruction of the masonry capital to match historical photographs.25

20 Lewis Publishing Company, An Illustrated History of Southern California, 355-356; FamilySearch.org. “James Nance: United States Census, 1900,” accessed various, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9PJ-CW5. 21 Holmes, History of Riverside County, 163; Lewis Publishing Company, An Illustrated History of Southern California, 356. 22 Office of Indian Affairs, Sixty-First Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior: 1892 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1892), 880. 23 The Citrograph (Redlands, CA), January 16, 1892, on file at the Perris Valley Historical Association and Library. 24 “NRHP Registration Form: Perris Depot,” National Park Service, July 5, 1994, electronic resource, accessed various, http://www.nps.gov/nr/research/. 25 “The Perris Depot,” Orange Empire Railway Museum, accessed March 30, 2015, http://www.oerm.org/perris- depot. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 6)

Raised wooden platforms on the east and west facades of the freight house were removed at an unknown date after the 1950s. Historic photographs dated from the 1950s show raised wooden platforms in place on both elevations. The 2007-2008 restoration included the reconstruction of the freight dock on both the east and west façades.26

The west façade freight door was enclosed by a wooden gate at an unknown date after the 1950s. Historical photographs of the Perris Depot dated to the 1940s and 1950s show the western façade freight door unobstructed.27

B. Historical Context:28 Before the arrival of the railroad, Perris Valley was known as the San Jacinto Plains. Known as a treeless desert, the plains sported little other than great bands of sheep in the lowlands, while miners prospected for gold in the foothills. By 1880, the first pioneering families arrived in the area. A rancher named Copeland first developed a ranch approximately three miles north of present-day Perris. Additional pioneering families followed Copeland and settled the region. As word spread of the region’s mining and dry farming potential, settlement increased.29

By 1882, the first segment of the CSR from San Diego to Colton, a community located approximately 20 miles north of Perris, finished construction. With no direct connection to the transcontinental railroad, until the CSR completed the line to Barstow in 1885, the rail line experienced little traffic. The placement of the CSR in the region, however, boosted public interest in permanent settlements throughout Perris Valley. A post office, located approximately 1.5-miles south of the Perris, was erected in the winter of 1882 under the name of Pinacate. The township was named after the nearby gold mines. The modest train station established at Pinacate consisted of a boxcar on a side track of the CSR. While a meager beginning, Pinacate expanded as settlement continued. Pinacate was platted as a town by a Texas surveyor by the name of Mauermaan. Mauermann built a hotel near the station and the CSR installed a switch, which diverted rail traffic from one line to another.30

The connection of the CSR to the Transcontinental Railroad, north of Perris, in 1885 ushered in a land boom throughout Southern California including Perris Valley. A handful of land claims in 1884 grew to hundreds as settlers moved into Perris Valley seeking cheaper land prices than in more well-known locales such as San Diego and Los Angeles. Grain farming became a successful enterprise in the Valley due to the fertile soil, with wheat, barley and rye

26 “The Perris Depot,” Orange Empire Railway Museum., accessed April 1, 2015, http://www.oerm.org/perris-depot. 27 “The Perris Depot,” Orange Empire Railway Museum., accessed April 1, 2015, http://www.oerm.org/perris-depot. 28 Unless otherwise noted all information was derived from the NRHP Registration Form by Ida Mae Minnich, “NRHP Registration Form: Perris Depot,” National Park Service, July 5, 1994, accessed various, http://www.nps.gov/nr/research/. The NRHP nomination did not include footnotes stating the sources. Sources used are in the bibliography. 29 Holmes, History of Riverside County (Historic Record Company, Los Angeles: 1912), 140-141. 30 Holmes, History of Riverside County, 143-145, Anthony J. Bianculli, Trains and Technology: Track and Structures, (Associated University Press, Cranbury, NJ: 2003), 114. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 7)

being notable crops. Board shanty cabins transformed into substantial wood frame houses, small orchards and vineyards blossomed under the care of thrifty farmers, and wells and windmills set up.31

A land dispute in Pinacate enticed a group of businessmen from San Bernardino to approach the CSR. They proposed to donate land to build a depot if the railway moved the station to a point 1.5 miles north. After the proposal’s acceptance by the CSR, the town was named in honor of the railway’s Vice President and Chief Engineer, Frederick Thomas Perris (1837- 1916), who favored the proposition. The town was platted by Perris in 1886, and on April 1, 1886, Jacob Nash Victor, CSR’s general manager, officially announced the closure of Pinacate Station and the opening of the Perris Passenger and Freight Depot.32 By 1890, the Depot, the predecessor to the Perris Depot, included a modest passenger and freight depot located on D Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets, directly north of the Perris Depot’s current location.33 The Depot was constructed as a temporary building until the CSR could build the current Perris Depot.34 On February 11, 1886, Thomas Jefferson Fording, one of the six San Bernardino businessmen who approached the CSR, deeded land to build Perris Depot to the CSR; however it took six years to begin construction.

The long duration it took to build the current Perris Depot can likely be attributed to the CSR’s tumultuous floods and financial history. The CSR could only point to two years, 1882 and 1887, in which the company profited. The destructive 1884 flood and costly reconstruction, in conjunction with the Fallbrook Junction to Temecula line abandonment in the wake of the 1891 flood, created an inhospitable environment for the company’s advancement. The inland route between Perris to San Diego was abandoned in favor of the more viable Surf Line. Perris, however, remained directly connected to the Transcontinental Railroad to the north. Passenger service significantly declined after the abandonment of the inland route but freight service from rural San Bernardino and San Diego County towns continued.

By the end of April 1888, a branch line opened, starting in Perris traveling east through Hemet to San Jacinto. The San Jacinto branch line carried large quantities of barley, wheat and rye, wool, and gold and other mineral goods from the nearby mines.35 The Perris Depot at the time was insufficient in handling the increased freight traffic from the San Jacinto line along with the normal freight; Perris required a larger depot to serve as a transfer facility from the San Jacinto branch to the CSR line north to the transcontinental railroad.

The Perris Depot was completed in 1892, and the first trainload of passengers arrived on March 16, 1892. With established significance as a region serviced by the Transcontinental

31 Holmes, History of Riverside County, 147. 32 Dodge, “Perris and it’s Railroad,” 2. 33 Sanborn – Perris Map Company, Limited, Perris 1890 [map], 50 ft. to an inch, “Digital Sanborn Maps 1867 – 1970 – Sacramento Public Library,” accessed April 13, 2015, http://0-sanborn.umi.com.www.saclibrarycatalog.org/. 34 Sanborn – Perris Map Company, Limited, Perris 1890 [map], 50 ft. to an inch, “Digital Sanborn Maps 1867 – 1970 – Sacramento Public Library,” accessed April 13, 2015, http://0-sanborn.umi.com.www.saclibrarycatalog.org/. 35 Holmes, History of Riverside County, 147. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 8)

Railroad, Riverside County was developed in March 1893 out of San Diego and San Bernardino County territory.36

During this period of transition the issue of water and irrigation became a major public issue for the town of Perris. Dry Farming, while suitable for the growth of grain and ranch fodder, did not provide the high quality yields of crops from orchards and vineyards that the city hoped to develop. Public meetings in Perris were held and the city decided to form a Perris Irrigation District under the Wright Act, which allowed for the creation of irrigation districts for the acquisition and distribution of water for purposes of irrigation. The Perris Irrigation District was officially established on May 20, 1890; J. W. Nance served as president of the board of directors.37

Entering into an agreement with the Bear Valley Irrigation Company, which controlled the Big Bear Lake Reservoir, the Perris Irrigation District purchased certificates of water rights. Agriculture in the region flourished. Varieties of fruit orchards appeared throughout the district with Kadota figs becoming especially popular and lemons noted in period reports of the region. Wheat and alfalfa grew alongside vegetables and flower gardens during this period of water abundance. Through this agricultural boom, the depot connected the ranchers and farmers to the greater Southern California region. In the harvest season of 1898, 500 railcar loads of grain, predominately wheat, shipped out of the depot’s freight station.38

Alongside the agricultural boom that the irrigation district provided, the population of Perris and surrounding ranches and farms blossomed from 300 people in 1890 to approximately 1,200 by 1894.39 That same year, the town sported all manner of shops and buildings, including an opera house and the Perris Indian School, the first Native American school in Southern California.40 The depot connected Perris to the greater California region via the CSR into Barstow, and markets east through the Transcontinental Railroad, allowing for the easy delivery of merchandise and the easy movement of settlers and farmers from surrounding areas.

The abundance was short lived, however, as the irrigation water from Big Bear proved less reliable than expected. Cities with older legal rights to water from Big Bear, such as Redlands, received their allotment of water while Perris watched its supply dwindle. Eventually irrigation water delivery ended and the Perris Valley Irrigation District, and any bonds held became invalid by the Bear Valley Irrigation Company.41 Without irrigation

36 Dodge, “Perris and it’s Railroad,” 3. 37 Holmes, History of Riverside County, 149. 38 Holmes, History of Riverside County, 158; “Perris,” Los Angeles Herald 25 no. 4 (January 2, 1898), 36, online resource found at California Digital Newspaper Collection, accessed on February 18, 2015, http://cdnc.ucr.edu/. 39 Sanborn – Perris Map Company Limited, Perris – 1890 [map], 50 ft. to an inch, “Digital Sanborn Maps 1867 – 1970 – Sacramento Public Library,” accessed April 13, 2015, http://0-sanborn.umi.com.www.saclibrarycatalog.org/; Holmes, History of Riverside County, 158. 40 Holmes, History of Riverside County, 158; “Sherman Indian High School History,” Sherman Indian Museum, online resource, accessed April 6, 2015, http://www.shermanindianmuseum.org/sherman_hist.htm. 41 Phil Brigandi, Building the Future: The Story of the Eastern Municipal Water District (Perris, CA: Eastern Municipal Water District, 2000), 91. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 9)

water from Big Bear, the agricultural cornucopia of Perris failed to the long and dry summer heat. An exodus of ranchers and farmers followed; many moved to Riverside and other farming communities known for reliable irrigation water.42 For the remaining citizens the Perris Depot continued to provide a means of travel outside the valley and connected them to the greater California region through CSR’s connection to transcontinental railroad.

In the mid-1900s, newly discovered underground aquifers in Perris Valley were developed using pumping stations and wells. The discovery ultimately revitalized the agricultural strength of the region. By 1910, a second agricultural and population boom involved alfalfa and potatoes, crops requiring great amounts of water. Amongst the backdrop of this second population boom, the city incorporated in April 1911.43

A result of the new agricultural boom, propaganda surrounding the restoration of the segment of line from Fallbrook Junction to Temecula abounded. Speculation included the introduction of new electric interurban routes as seen in Riverside and San Bernardino to Perris. This speculation, along with the revitalized farming economy, further drove hopes of renewed prosperity for the community. Such dreams would not come to fruition as service through Railroad Canyon between Temecula and Elsinore, south of Perris, was cancelled, turning the depot from a junction to a way station; trains stopped at the Perris Depot only when requested and otherwise bypassed the town. The aquifer, once thought unlimited, began to deplete, and salinization of the soil further hindered the yields of potatoes in the years before World War II.

Perris and the Depot received a boost in activity as a result of World War II. The increasing tensions between the Japanese and United States governments pushed for the reactivation of the nearby March Field Air Base and the development of Camp Haan, located less than two miles north of Perris. Activated on January 10, 1941, Camp Haan grew quickly and by October 1941, the camp boasted 353 buildings and nearly 30 miles of streets. Designed as the only anti-artillery training camp on the West Coast, soldiers visited from all over the United States. As the war progressed, the camp doubled as a Prisoner of War camp. After the war, the camp transitioned to a separation center, the final stop for military personnel before returning to civilian life. By August 31, 1946, the camp was declared “surplus” and sold. The Perris Depot’s branch connection to the Transcontinental Railroad and its close proximity to the camp allowed for ease of mobilization of large groups of soldiers throughout the war.44

The passenger boom brought by World War II ended after the camp was sold, and vehicle travel became more prominent in the region after the c. 1947 development of Highway 395.

42 Dodge, “Perris and it’s Railroad,” 3. 43 Holmes, History of Riverside County, 162. 44 City of Perris, Celebrating 100 Years: Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, Embracing the Future, 30’s and 40’s, (Perris: 2013), 3, electronic resource, accessed April 6, 2015, http://www.cityofperris.org/about/brochures/1930-1940_files/CityofPerris30and40era.html; Riverside Public Library, “Sharon Anthony Camp Haan Papers,” accessed April 20, 2015, https://www.riversideca.gov/library/history_aids_camphaan.asp. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 10)

The highway ran parallel to the rail line north out of Perris. Passenger rail service was unwarranted and ended.45 However, freight service continued.

Water imported from the Colorado River, beginning in 1953 by the Eastern Municipal Water District, revitalized potato farming. The annual “Spudrush” festival in late June and early August brought major traffic into the Depot as refrigerated railcars carried millions of dollars of potatoes to eastern markets.46 However, by the 1960s, the high cost of land and water, along with anticipated urban sprawl, ended potatoes as an economical crop.

By 1969, the Santa Fe resident freight agency closed, and the depot was gifted to the Orange Empire Railway Museum (OERM) for preservation. Today, the Perris Depot is used in the OERM’s exhibition of Southern California’s railroad history, and as a stop along the OERM Historic Railway.47

45 United States Geologic Survey, Perris Quadrangle, California [map], 1:62500, 15 minute series, Washington D.C., 1942. 46 City of Perris, Celebrating 100 Years: Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, Embracing the Future, 50’s and 60’s (Perris: 2013), 2, accessed April 7, 2015, http://www.cityofperris.org/about/brochures/1950-1960_files/CityofPerris50and60era.html. 47 Orange Empire Railway Museum, “Museum Railway,” accessed April 7, 2015, http://www.oerm.org/museum- railway. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 11)

Part II. Architectural Information

A. General Statement

1. Character: The depot is a distinctive example of Queen Anne traditions in its massing and detail including the asymmetrical façade, conical roof tower, metal roof cresting, arched entranceway, round windows, and ornate finials. The scale and detail of the depot represent a focus on making the depot a main stop on a major transcontinental line. The large freight room compared to the baggage and passenger rooms, along with CSR’s regulation from a main line to a branch of the Atlantic and Pacific, shifted the focus of the depot from passenger service on a main stop to freight.

2. Condition of Fabric: The building is in good condition.

B. Description of Exterior

1. Overall Dimensions: The one-story building has a simple, rectangular ground plan. The south half of the building functioned as a freight room;48 the north half of the building functioned as the baggage and waiting rooms. The Operator’s office, known as the “Operator’s Bay,” is also located in the north half of the building.

2. Foundation: The foundation is brick.

3. Walls: The regularly laid, brick masonry walls display header and stretch courses at varying intervals and concave mortar joints.

A bay window on the west façade once functioned as the “Operator’s Bay.”49

A Native Daughters of the Golden West historic marker plaque, located on the east façade, was added on July 10, 1966. It reads, “SANTA FE STATION PERRIS. CALIFORNIA. THIS BUILDING WAS BUILT IN 1892 BY THE CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN RAILWAY. THIS PLAQUE IS BEING DEDICATED TO THE PIONEERS OF THIS AREA.”50

The east façade gable features a painted sign reading “Perris Santa Fe.”

The north elevation pediment features a painted sign reading “PERRIS.”

48 Orange Empire Railway Museum, “Perris Depot,” accessed April 7, 2015, http://www.oerm.org/perris-depot. 49 Orange Empire Railway Museum, “Perris Depot,” accessed April 7, 2015, http://www.oerm.org/perris-depot. 50 Leo Friis, ed., “Parlor News,” California Herald, September 1966, 15, accessed April 7, 2015. https://archive.org/stream/californiaherald14168frii#page/n7/mode/2up. PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 12)

The west façade features a painted sign reading “WAITING ROOM” above the northwest door. A second painted sign “reading “BAGGAGE ROOM” is located above the northwest freight door.

4. Structural System/Framing: The building walls are brick masonry, likely wood framed.

5. Platform: The Depot historically featured a raised wood platform which wrapped around the east and west façades, and south elevation of the freight room underneath the raised freight bays. It was removed at an unknown date. (See Photos CA-2910-4, 7 and 9 for a visual of where the platform was once located.)

The current raised wood platform features a short stairway and wood railing on the west façade of the freight room.

6. Chimneys: The Depot displays one interior brick chimney protruding from the ridge. The chimney features a simple masonry capital.

7. Openings

a. Entryways: The Depot features a wide, round archway on both the east and west façades. The west façade archway is comprised of brick masonry with brick voussoirs and two squat, decorative stone, Romanesque columns. The archway also contains a stone keystone. The east façade archway is comprised of patterned brick voussoirs with brick detailing which mirrors the Romanesque columns on the west façade.

b. Doors: The west façade features three general entry doors and two freight doors.

Two identical doors are located within the arched entryway. The entrance to the operator’s bay is on the left wall inside the arched entryway; the entrance to the freight room is centered in the entryway. Both wood panel doors display multi- pane, decorative stained glass and two multi-pane, stained glass transom windows with a center-diamond design. The doors are wood framed with simple wood board molding. The freight room entrance has been boarded shut.

The third wood panel door on the west façade features a multi-pane, decorative, stained glass sash and a multi-pane, stained glass transom window with a center- diamond design. The doorway is wood framed with simple wood board molding. Above the transom is a painted sign stating: “WAITING ROOM.” A wood framed screen door is hung in front of the entry door.

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Two wide freight doors on the west façade lead to the Baggage Room and Freight Room. The freight door leading to the Baggage Room located on the north side of the building features a six-panel wood freight door with diagonal wood boards. The sliding door is wood framed with simple wood molding. The doorway also features a multi-pane, wood framed, transom window with wood molding. The door features painted signage above the transom window stating “BAGGAGE ROOM.”

The raised freight door leading to the Freight Room on the south side of the building features sliding double doors with diagonal wood boards and an X- shaped design. A wood safety railing blocking the door was added after the 1950s.

The east façade features two entry doors; one leading to the Freight Room, the other to the Waiting Room, and two freight bays. The door leading to the Freight Room, located within the arched entryway, features a wood panel door displaying a multi-pane, decorative stained glass sash and multi-pane, stained glass transom window with a center-diamond design. The doorway displays simple wood board molding. A wood framed screen sits in front of the of the entry door. The door leading to the Waiting Room, to the north of the arched entryway, features a wood panel with a multi-pane, decorative, stained glass sash. The door is wood framed with simple wood board molding. A wood framed screen is hung front of the entry door.

The unglazed sliding freight door to the Baggage Room, located at the north end of the east façade, features six-panels of diagonal wood boards. The doorway also features a multi-pane wood frame transom window.

The Freight Room’s elevated, unglazed, double sliding door, located on the south side of the east façade, features diagonal wood boards and an X-shaped design. The door is wood framed with simple wood board molding. A raised wood platform, added at an unknown date, provides access to the Freight Room door.

The north elevation features a raised, six-paneled, wood freight door with diagonal wood boards. The sliding door is wood framed with simple wood board molding; it leads to the Baggage Room.

The south elevation features a raised, double freight door leading to the Freight Room. The sliding door features diagonal boards and an X-shaped design. c. Windows: The Depot features two small, circular, multi-pane windows located along the east and west facades, and south elevation.

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Windows on the east and west façades are multi-paned, double-hung, wood-sash and wood-framed with the upper pane surrounded by smaller stained glass panes. There are three windows on the east façade and one window on the west façade.

The bay window on the west façade displays three multi-paned, double-hung, wood-sash and wood-framed windows with the upper pane surrounded by smaller stained glass panes. The lower panes are double sash.

The east façade gable features a diamond louver window.

8. Roof

a. Shape/Covering: The Depot displays multiple roof shapes. The Freight Room, located on the south half of the building, displays a wood-framed, moderately- pitched, hipped roof with bellcast eaves. The north half of the building displays a moderately-pitched, gable-on-hip roof with a clipped gable end. A steeply- pitched, cross gable with a clipped gable end is located on the east façade; and two steeply-pitched, cross gables are located on the west façade. One west façade gable is flanked by two brick buttresses with pyramid pinnacles. The upper ridge of the roof is detailed with a metal roof cresting; the roof is clad in wood shingles.

A “Santa Fe PERRIS” sign is located above the south elevation on the roof.

b. Cornice/Eaves: The building displays open eaves with wide overhang. The cross gables display no overhang and an intricate entablature with brick dentil-style molding. A brick, parapeted, cross gable is located on the west façade.

c. Tower: The east façade conical tower is clad in fish scale wood shingles. The tower features a false observation deck and decorative turned spindle columns with arched lattice work. The tower roof is conical and features a ball-style finial.

C. Description of Interior:

No interior description is available.

D. Site

1. Historic Landscape Design: Historic landscaping is unknown.

PERRIS DEPOT HABS No. CA-2910 (Page 15)

Part III. References:

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