I’m hoping you’ll look into whether or not this “Summerland Depot” outside the listing at 2311 Finney Street is the actual, original train depot for Summerland. —T.
The listing agents, Riskin Partners, checked with the owner of 2311 Finney, who said the depot is at the house next door, where that owner “was also an incredible woodworker [who] built the train depot as a fancy for his children and grandchildren.”
So the short answer is no. But there was indeed a train stop for Summerland back in the day: with the three citations below, the good folks at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum confirmed that the Summerland station was in one location from 1887 to 1897, and then another location until 1924.
1. The summer/fall 1987 edition of Noticias, a publication from the Santa Barbara Historical Society, was devoted to a long article by David F. Myrick called “Santa Barbara County Railroads: Centennial History,” and it included this: “[In July 1887] In the five miles between Carpinteria and Ortega Hill, a flagstop was established as the east boundary of Ortega Ranch, opposite today’s Lambert Road. Originally the station name honored I.K. Fisher, a stockman and owner of various ranch lands in the county but it soon became Ortega for that was the name given the townsite. The town never developed, but the name remains for the railroad passing track. (Summerland had its beginnings in January 1889 when J.L. Williams formed his spiritualist colony on the Ortega Ranch.) In 1887, …(a)bout this time, carpenters completed stations at Ortega, Montecito and Goleta.”
2. According to Myrick in Montecito and Santa Barbara, Summerland’s growing importance caused the Southern Pacific to construct a new station in 1897, moving its prior “waiting shed,” or shelter, to Miramar.
3. The December 10, 1924, issue of the Santa Barbara Morning Press noted in its Summerland column that “N. S. Gillum left for Los Angeles where he will visit a few days before taking a new station, the Summerland depot having closed Saturday.”
And The Huntington Library has a photo of the Summerland Depot, which it says dates from sometime in the 1910s.
Intriguingly, a website devoted to the Coast Daylight, “a passenger train run by the Southern Pacific Railroad between Los Angeles and San Francisco” starting in 1937, includes a schedule with Summerland on it.
“Depots where the train actually stopped to take on or discharge passengers are noted with a (Stop) under the time in the second and fourth columns,” explained Santa Barbara Historical Museum archivist Chris Ervin. “The Coast Daylight was an express train and did not stop in every town it passed through. The time noted for Summerland would be the target time the train would pass the town, not stop in it.”
Got a question you’d like investigated? Email [email protected] or text 917-209-6473.
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Previous Burning Questions:
↓↓↓ What does the “S” on certain chimneys stand for?
••• What’s the status of the decommissioning of Rincon Island?
••• What happened to the gas flame on Highway 101?
••• What do we know about the proposed apartment complex at 1 Hot Springs Road?
••• What’s the history of this tower on Ortega Ridge?
••• What’s up with these sculptures on a hillside in Summerland?
••• Is there a master plan for the new walking paths in Montecito?
••• Why are the Thousand Steps still wet?
••• What’s happening with Sola Street?
••• Why are trees being cut down above the San Ysidro Ranch?
••• Why is this lot on Milpas Street still vacant?
••• Where else do cruise ships that visit here go?
••• What’s happening with the Pepper Tree Inn?
••• What is this large memorial in Ennisbrook?
••• What’s the large building under construction next to Highway 101?
••• Who bought the former St. Mary’s seminary—and why?
••• What will happen to the SBPD building when the new building is completed?
••• How does the city decide to mark bike lanes?
••• What’s the story with this house on W. Cota Street?
••• What are those little houses on Santa Barbara Street?
••• Which Highway 101 exits are getting renamed?
••• Is the Music Academy of the West adding pedestrian gates?
••• Why does the Coast Village Road median look so bad?
••• What’s the point of this light pole near the freeway?
••• Why are the city’s parking lots scanning license plates?
••• What’s inside Paseo Nuevo’s State Street tower?
••• What’s the point of these markings on Laguna Street?
••• Why is there a giant red shoe off Highway 101?
••• Are we no longer allowed on the SBHS baseball field?
••• What does “SBTP” on this post mean?
••• What’s up with the “no e-bike” signs on local trails?
••• Why is Franceschi House in a holding pattern?
••• Why is there a train station inside this State Street storefront?
••• What’s happening with this derelict house in Summerland?
••• Why is there wood on some power lines?
••• Can you explain how sundowner winds work?
••• Why is there a pressure cooker attached to this utility pole?
••• What’s this concrete ramp thing on East Beach?
••• Why does “USA” get written on the street?
••• What are those poles in the ocean near the Ritz-Carlton Bacara?
••• Are people really allowed to set fires in the middle of Montecito?
••• What’s the story with the half-finished lot next to the Montecito Country Mart?
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Late to the discuss, having observed State Street for longer than I should admit, the current situation is bad for safety long term.
The paseo plans have merit. But the cost?
As an experienced bike rider I find the street almost unusable. Wayward children, a potential “bicycle polo” catastrophe at any moment. I would suggest, one way, one lane travel up the grade for vehicles and bikes. On the descent it is way too tempting to speed for bikes or e-bikes. Restarting the traffic signals I think would be a good thing.