By the 1880s, Fresno was booming.

The Southern Pacific Railroad, seeing the need for increased freight and passenger service to this area, designated Fresno as its main Central Valley freight terminal.

Southern Pacific demolished the 1872 depot and replaced it in 1889 with a spacious passenger and freight depot. The Daily Evening Expositor reported on January 23, 1889: "The building will be both handsome and commodious, being of the Queen Anne style of architecture." (The depot is one of only two Queen Anne-influenced railroad stations in California.)

Truck transportation and decreasing passenger traffic finally forced the depot's closure in 1971.

Source: Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1978.