Third and Townsend Depot facts for kids

Quick facts for kids San Francisco
Southern Pacific's Third and Townsend Depot terminal, August 1974
Location	San Francisco, California
Owned by	Southern Pacific Railroad
Line(s)	Coast Line
Construction
Architectural style	Mission revival
History
Opened	1915
Closed	1975
Services
Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station Terminus Coast Line via Bayshore Cutoff 23rd Street toward Los Angeles Coast Daylight Palo Alto toward Los Angeles Del Monte 23rd Street toward Monterey Lark Burlingame toward Los Angeles Peninsula Commute 23rd Street toward San Jose Valencia Street (pre-1907) toward San Jose Ocean View Line (pre-1942) Valencia Street toward San Bruno Suntan Special Burlingame toward Santa Cruz Coast Mail

The Third and Townsend Depot was the main train station in the city of San Francisco for much of the 20th century. It was located at Third Street and Townsend Street. This station was the northern end for Southern Pacific's Peninsula Commute line. This line ran between San Francisco and San Jose, and is now known as Caltrain. The station also served long-distance trains that traveled between San Francisco and Los Angeles along the Southern Pacific's Coast Line.

For trips to places like Seattle in the north or Chicago in the east, passengers usually had to go to Oakland first. This meant taking ferries to Oakland Long Wharf or later, buses to 16th Street Station. The Third and Townsend Depot was torn down in the 1970s. It was replaced by the Caltrain station located just one block away at Fourth and King Streets.

History of the Train Station

The Third and Townsend Depot was built between 1914 and 1915. It was ready just in time for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, a big fair held in 1915. This new station took the place of an older one built in 1889. That older station was moved and became known as "The Old Depot."

When the 1914 station was first planned, it was only meant to be temporary. The idea was to build a bigger, main station further downtown later on. The Southern Pacific railroad even bought some land to extend the train line to a new terminal. This new terminal would have been at Market Street and Embarcadero, right across from the Ferry Building. However, this plan never happened. So, the Third and Townsend station ended up being San Francisco's main train station for 62 years.

The depot was once the starting point for Southern Pacific's Sunset Limited train. This train traveled all the way to New Orleans by way of Los Angeles. In 1930, the Sunset Limited service from San Francisco was stopped. It started again in 1935 but was permanently cut back to Los Angeles in 1942.

The last long-distance train left the station on April 30, 1971. On that day, Southern Pacific handed over the Coast Daylight train to Amtrak. The Del Monte train also stopped running. Amtrak decided to move most of its Bay Area train services to Oakland. However, bus connections between San Francisco and Oakland (and later Emeryville) continued. These bus services are still offered today as part of the Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach system.

As more people started using freeways and long-distance passenger trains became less common, Southern Pacific built a much smaller station. This new station, the Fourth and King Street Station, was built in 1975 to serve only the Peninsula Commute. The Third and Townsend Depot was then torn down in 1975 and 1976.

What the Station Looked Like

As depicted on a postcard

The Third and Townsend Depot was designed by the Southern Pacific Architectural Bureau. It was a two-story building made of strong concrete. It was built in the special Mission Revival architecture style. This style was very popular in San Francisco at the time. The railroad wanted the station's design to "link San Francisco more closely with the romance and sentiment of the settlement of California." They even planned to have murals inside the station showing this theme.

When the design was first announced, it included something new for Western train stations: customers could choose between free and paid bathrooms. The station also had a building for luggage, a place to prepare food (a commissary), and a storage room for the Pullman train cars. The roofs were covered with tiles. Arches and door covers protected passengers from the weather on two sides of the building.

Inside, the station was finished with oak wood. The waiting room had a marble floor and was very large, measuring about 64 feet by 110 feet. It had a high ceiling, about 45 feet tall. Light came into the waiting room from three sides through windows with amber-colored glass.

Local bus and streetcar services were available right at the station. These services were provided by the Market Street Railway and later by the San Francisco Municipal Railway.