Southern Pacific Coyote Depot

The Coyote Depot was built in 1869 as part of Southern Pacific Railroad’s initial line between San Jose and Gilroy, and supported the extensive farming population in the Coyote Valley. The original building contained only a waiting room and ticket office, but a baggage room was soon added. In addition, because of the relative remoteness of the location, a residence was constructed for the station agent and family. The station agent assigned to the depot became the face of the railroad, answering queries about train schedules and freight rates. The agent also operated the telegraph, receiving orders over the wire that were then communicated on paper to passing trains. 

Due to a decline in customers, passenger trains discontinued regularly scheduled stops in Coyote early in the twentieth century. However, the station continued to operate as a “flag stop” for local passenger trains: the station agent would change the station’s signal to indicate when there was a passenger at the station to pick-up, and conversely, passengers on the train could notify the conductor that they needed to disembark in Coyote.

As new technologies such as radio and telephone replaced the need for paper orders to be manually handed to passing trains, the station agent and office were no longer required. Western Union’s business, for whom the station agent also worked, was similarly in decline in the 1950s.  The depot closed in 1959, and over the next fifty years, it was rented out as a private residence. The last resident left in 2010 and the structure sat abandoned until the original building was moved to History Park in May 2024. (The later residential addition has not survived).

At History Park, the structure will be used for educational and public programming around the railroad’s importance to our region’s once vast agricultural economy. Visitors will be able to practice telegraphy skills across a telegraph line between the depot and the Coyote Post Office. The Golden State Toy Train Operators will operate a model train display in a new room that replaces the residential portion of the structure. 

Relocation of the depot to History Park was generously funded by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. 
Additional funding is now required to complete the structure’s restoration and create educational programming.

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