City of Perris, CA
Home MenuPerris Station/Santa Fe Depot
The Perris Depot is a railroad depot built in 1892 to serve Perris, California. The station replaced a previous wooden structure at the same site on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line, originally the California Southern Railroad.
The station was built by J.W. Nance, a Perris developer, and was designed by Benjamin Franklin Levet, Sr., son-in-law to Fred T. Perris. The depot served both passenger traffic and the considerable agricultural traffic associated with the farmlands of the Perris Valley. However, passenger traffic declined and ended in 1947. Agriculture declined due to limited water supplies and salinization, and farms were replaced with suburbs. All but one track in the station yard was abandoned in 1975. From 1974 the depot has been used by the Perris Valley Historical and Museum Association as a museum of local history.
In the 1990s the depot was proposed as a commuter rail station.