So much revolved around the opening of the Panama California Exposition in 1915 that there became a definite need for a multiple train station to accommodate the influx of San Diego visitors. To meet these urgent needs, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway built an ornate Spanish Colonial Revival-style structure. Construction began on a site just east of the old depot on Jan. 15, 1914 and was completed Dec. 31 at a total cost of $300,000. The new station opened on March 8,1915. The magnificent complex was designed by San Francisco architects Bakewell and Brown as a “monumental reminder” of California’s Spanish heritage. Intended to harmonize with the Spanish Colonial Revival-style buildings of the exposition, the size and grandeur far surpassed anything the Santa Fe had ever built in the West. So stylish, in fact, was the building that it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The massive arch of the front entrance is flanked by twin campaniles, each topped by a colorful tile-covered dome and displaying Santa Fe’s blue cross emblem on all four sides. Drawing more heavily from the architecturally distinctive Spanish, Moorish and Mexican lines exhibited by the Mission San Luís Rey de Francia located in Oceanside than it does from the nearby Mission San Diego de Alcalá nine miles away, the interior of the depot features natural redwood beam ceilings highlighted by walls covered with brightly colored ceramic tiles. The station replaced the small Victorian-style structure erected in 1879 for the California Southern Railroad Company, and became a busy place with in-and-out Electric Railway trolleys with stops also by the San Diego and Arizona train system. It officially changed to San Diego Union Station in 1919 in response to its multiple-use and continental service, and a Fred Harvey Company lunch counter and dining room were soon incorporated into the floor plan. During the exposition, nine scheduled trains ran during the week. Twelve trains operated on weekends. Because of the heavy rail traffic from the east and north, optimistic city fathers sought to make this the West Coast terminus of the Santa Fe system’s transcontinental railroad — but the city of Los Angeles would win that battle. The Santa Fe took over solo operation of the station in January 1951 when the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway discontinued passenger service. It might be noted that of the 73 California stations served by Amtrak, San Diego was the third busiest in 2010, boarding or detraining an average of nearly 2,000 passengers daily and it remains Amtrak’s 11th busiest station nationwide.
