As it wound slowly and carefully along Cotton Lane to its new home on MC85, the historic Litchfield Train Depot carried with it 80 years of Southwest Valley history.
Since the 1970s, the Southern Pacific train depot has been nestled on a horse farm at 16715 W. Lower Buckeye Road in Goodyear. On Tuesday, it was transported to city-owned land three miles away near Roscoe Park.
Goodyear bought the depot for $5,000, said Matt Hanson, grants specialist for Goodyear. The move cost about $33,000. Both expenses were paid by a Legacy Project grant.
The building was appraised at $16,000 in the mid-90s.
Goodyear considered purchasing it about 10 years ago, Hanson said, but the price on the depot was $80,000.
The structure is stable but will need to be renovated before it can be used by the public, Hanson said.
"It's interesting, you ask someone from Arizona and they'll say it's in terrible condition," he said. "You ask a historical preservationist who's used to structures in the East or Midwest and they say it's in amazing condition."
The fate of the 1,900-square-foot depot is in the hands of a newly created Goodyear Centennial Commission. The volunteers will study it and its history to determine how best to use the building.
The Commission will recommend a permanent location and possible uses to the City Council for approval at a future date.
Pieces of history
The depot was put into use in 1928 as a freight terminal. It was also used briefly as a passenger station, Hanson said. Executives from the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. would arrive at the station from Akron, Ohio, when they traveled to Litchfield Park to visit Goodyear Farms or stay at the Wigwam Resort.
"In World War II, it was used to ship young men and women off to military bases in California," he said. "For us, it's exciting because we don't have a lot of history."
In the early 1970s, the Southern Pacific Railroad no longer needed a train depot so it was put up for sale, according to the 1976 book, Story of a Town: Litchfield Park by Clyde E. Schetter.
Don Paulson, a Phoenix restaurant equipment dealer, bought the little depot for $400 and moved it to his farm. He added four stalls and converted it into a horse stable.
Paulson said he originally bought it for his son, Ted, who was 11 at the time, according to a 1995 View article.
"I let him practice on his drums in there until the horses started getting cross-eyed," he said.
Now, Paulson lives in California and has said he plans to develop the property on which the depot stood.
Olga Rhodes and her sister Denise Scott were walking their dogs Tuesday morning when the Litchfield Depot was rigged onto a semi and driven off the property. They pass the area every day.
"It's sat there as long as we've lived here, 30 years," said Rhodes. "It's quite a historical building in these parts. It was quite a sight."
Sara Drew can be reached by e-mail
at sdrew@westvalleyview.com
